Jurgen Klopp has batted away claims that Mohamed Salah wants to leave Liverpool for Saudi Arabia.
Rumours emerged overnight that the Egyptian winger had agreed to a £191million move to Al-Ittihad, which would earn him over £3.5m-a-week as part of the Saudis’ mega spending spree.
However, Liverpool signed Salah up to a new contract to 2025 last year and have no intention of accepting any bids for their star forward.
Klopp told reporters ahead of facing Newcastle on Sunday that no such offer had landed at his desk and that the issue was a total non-starter, with Salah “100 per cent” committed to Liverpool.
“It’s difficult to talk about media stories, as there’s nothing to talk about from our point of view,” he told reporters.
“Mo is a Liverpool player, he’s essential. There’s nothing there. If there would be something, the answer would be no.
“Part of my life philosophy is to think about a problem when I have it, but there’s absolutely nothing at the moment.
“If something comes up, I don’t think or know about what, I’ll think about it. But if there was, it would be a no.”
Many football figures have pontificated on the rise of the PIF-backed Saudi Pro League clubs and its potential threat to European football, and Klopp outlined what he would change to ensure a more level playing field.
“It’s not comfortable, it’s not cool for us but that’s how it is,” he added.
“If we go to, say, Wigan [for a signing], they usually tell us the price and we pay it probably. With big clubs that’s how it is - in the Bundesliga, Bayern go to Arminia [Bielefeld], they cannot react and that’s the way it goes. There’s a next level, it’s not great. It’s part of the business and I’m not sure you can change it or if someone will.
“But what makes it not possible to deal with is when our window shuts and theirs remains open. From [the deadline] we play until January 1 and that’s our team, that’s what everybody’s used to.
“In the past with Russia, a long time ago thankfully, they had the different window but that was not completely crazy money. [Saudi] is new and challenging for everybody but we have to learn to deal with it. The authorities should make clear that if you want to be in the system, we do business at the same time as all others. FIFA could do that if they wanted to.”
