Mohamed Salah to Saudi Arabia: how much Liverpool bid might really have been worth and why FSG transfer stance could change

After the deadline of September 7 passed there was likely a collective sigh of relief among many clubs, Liverpool among them.

The Reds, having been willing to sell both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho for a combined £52m to Al-Ettifaq and Al-Ittihad respectively, had been forced to reject a late bid for their talismanic star Mohamed Salah, with owners Fenway Sports Group rejecting a £150m bid from Al-Ittihad in the final week of the Saudi Arabian transfer window, which closed a week after the rest of Europe.

Salah stayed, although there had been some concern that another bid of mammoth proportions would emerge at the death that would have been simply too much for the Reds to say no to for a player with two years left on his deal and 31 years old.

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Liverpool’s chances of getting back into the lucrative Champions League next season are vastly improved with Salah in the side, while having no chance to replace such an important player meant that it wasn’t something that the club would consider.

There would, of course, have been a point at which Liverpool simply had to say yes from a business perspective, but such a decision never had to be made after the initial £150m bid, which was believed to have been made up of a £100m guaranteed sum and the rest based on a number of contingents, rejected by FSG president Mike Gordon via phone call.

Making that decision could have been easier than it may have appeared.

Speaking to the ECHO’s Bottom Line Podcast, renowned sports lawyer and author Daniel Geey, who has worked on many big transfers and takeover deals during his