A few months in football is a very long time. On the eve of last Summer’s Deadline Day, speculation was rife that a mega-bid could be made for Mo Salah from Al-Ittihad.
A report in the Telegraph claimed an £150m bid could have been in the offing to loosen Liverpool’sresolve to keep their star man for the 23/24 season.
Salah still has over a year on his contract and is showing no signs of letting up, as Liverpool have silently gone about their business in mounting a title charge.
It seems out the question that the club would countenance letting Salah go, but Al-Ittihad were not disheartened by their failed attempts to lure Salah away in the Summer.
There is also the wider picture of the colossal moves the wider Gulf state has made in putting sport at the centre of Riyadh season.
Yes, we can talk about the money involved, and the controversies that come to boot. But, the marketing machine is often overlooked.
The Saudi sport vision is pumping resources into making sport a global import from the region. With both Fury and Joshua’s headline fights co-operating involvement from Al-Nassr’s Cristiano Ronaldo, there is a degree to which the Saudi Government are striving to continue to make this Riyadh Season an iconic moment in time in the landscape of sport.
So where does AFCON come in?
The marketing machine won’t be able to co-opt Salah into a historic unveiling in January. The timing isn’t right, as he’ll be playing tournament football in the Ivory Coast. So Al-Ittihad you’d imagine would be better supported at launching their statement signing to the national public at a later date.
The nature of how the Anthony Joshua ‘Day of Reckoning’ card was put together suggests mountains can be moved by Saudi money in boxing. And Al-Ittihad is owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
But the logistics of pulling off the Salah transfer coup will not only be weighted down by Liverpool’sresolve this time around, they’ll also be weighted down by the fact that a January move isn’t a pragmatic time to strike for the Saudis.
Comments