Beşiktaş saw their negotiations stall. Several Saudi clubs pounced, with Al-Ittihad leading the charge.
Reports claimed Salah had agreed to the Saudi offer in return for a huge salary reaching 25 million dollars a year. Al-Diriyah’s name also surfaced among the clubs monitoring the situation, ready to pounce should the Turkish talks collapse.
Financially, the Saudi league offered the strongest package by some distance, boosted by the major project the competition has driven in recent years and the string of global stars it has lured.
Yet other reports suggested Salah still preferred to stay in Europe. At this stage of his career, he believed he could still compete on the Old Continent, which meant the Saudi bids, for all their financial muscle, never became a done deal.