Mohamed Salah Transfer to Liverpool Hits Snag

This morning our auto-scheduled story about Domenico Berardi as a potential replacement for Mohamed Salah proved rather fortuitous, as, moments after it went out, news broke that Liverpool had met Roma’s €40 million asking price for Salah, nevermind the fact it was €50 million a few weeks ago. And while it seemed like it made our Berardi piece redundant, it appears as though Salah’s move to Liverpool has stalled.

Earlier today all the usual calcio outlets had rubber stamped this move, with the Barcelona Entertainment and Information Network (BeIn) saying it was all but done, but now it seems as though some unidentified roadblock has gotten in the way, with the latest updates saying simply that the move is “not imminent.”

Not one to miss a chance to make himself appear important, Pallotta chimed in on the current situation:

With these questions you seem like the Roman reporters… In any case, there’s nothing in it at the moment. We continue to receive offers for many of our players and if we were to listen to all of them, we’d lose three quarters of the squad. Now we’ll see what to do.

Well, at least he didn’t come out and say “we’re not selling player X” because we all know how that turns out, but Pallotta was about as political as you’d expect given the question. We won’t even touch his comment about Totti’s future

He can be an excellent brand ambassador for Roma and make a ton of money for himself with sponsors and various ads all over the world.

You know what? Yes. Yes we will. If this isn’t proof positive that this man doesn’t understand this club, let alone Totti’s place within its history and why he chose time and time again to turn down more money, then I don’t know what does. Because if there’s one thing that always motivated Totti, it was money, right? Get the fuck outta here.

Anyway, back to Salah. As we recall, getting Salah to Rome in the first place was a royal pain, so it’s only fitting that his exit is equally frustrating. While we don’t know what may or may not be scuppering the deal, rest assured the deal as constituted is not good for Roma, or at least not the best they could cobble together.

If you’re not familiar with Knutson, he runs Statsbomb, one of the foremost footballing analytic sites you’ll ever find, so he knows from what he speaks. Salah’s starting point should be at least €50 million...at least, so if this deal does indeed come to fruition, let’s hope it’s because Monchi is digging in his heels.

You don’t replace Salah’s 19 goals and 12 assists so easily, so Roma settling for the first, or even second, offer is a gross mistake.