Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai has claimed that Mohamed Salah wants to stay at the club despite interest from Saudi Arabia.
The Egyptian attacker was apparently the subject of a £150m bid from Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad on deadline day, but the Reds swiftly rejected the nine-figure approach.
Clubs in Saudi Arabia can still bring in new players until next Thursday, though, and it has been rumoured that Al-Ittihad will try again with a world-record £200m offer for Salah, who could also become the highest-paid player on the planet with a weekly £1.5m wage packet.
With the 31-year-old only under contract at Anfield until 2025, Liverpool's owners Fenway Sports Group would likely give serious consideration to such an unprecedented bid, but head coach Jurgen Klopp remains determined to keep hold of the attacker.
Furthermore, Salah's agent has also affirmed on numerous occasions that his client remains happy on Merseyside, and Szoboszlai has sought to allay any nervousness among Liverpool fans, having received confirmation from Salah himself that he wants to continue with the Reds for a little while longer.
"We are really happy that he stayed. We were, of course, speaking between each other but he wants to stay, he wants to be here, he wants to be with us," talkSPORT quotes Szoboszlai as saying.
"He stayed and we are really happy, a great player, a great person... we need some guys in the team like him, so we are happy."
Szoboszlai and Salah were both on target during the Reds' 3-0 success over Aston Villa on Sunday, as the former broke the deadlock with a crisp strike into the bottom corner from a Trent Alexander-Arnold set-piece.
A Matty Cash own goal propelled Liverpool into a two-goal lead before half time, and Salah completed the rout with a close-range finish after Darwin Nunez flicked a corner into his path.
The former Chelsea attacker has now scored or assisted in each of his last 10 Premier League appearances for Liverpool, and Klopp also hailed Salah for pushing the speculation surrounding his future to one side.
"I didn't realise a little bit of a distraction in the whole week, besides answering questions about it - not from people inside (the club) but people outside," Klopp added.
"I have no clue, nobody came to me and told me something could happen or whatever. I'm pretty sure I would have got a call but I didn't.
"And Mo didn't look for a second like he thought about anything else other than about Aston Villa, being involved in all the goals. He has unbelievable numbers but it's not a surprise that he has the numbers.
"And he had chances on top of that and (is) involved in creating and setting up and all these kind of things. He's a world-class player, no doubt about that and I'm really pleased he is in my team."
Since departing Roma to join Klopp's squad in 2017, Salah has struck 188 goals and set up 81 more in 309 games for the club, but the Liverpool boss is supposedly fearful of losing the Egypt international to a lucrative Saudi transfer next year. body check tags ::
