Mohamed Salah isn’t Cristiano Ronaldo! Liverpool found ‘no market’ for Egyptian superstar when inviting transfer offers

As a result, the three-time PFA Player of the Year will be walking away from Anfield for nothing at the end of the current campaign. His contract on Merseyside is due to run until the summer of 2027, but the final 12 months of those terms are being torn up.

Purslow believes that the Reds would have been inviting offers for their 255-goal winger at one stage, after seeing him aim an explosive blast in the club’s direction when stuck on the bench in December 2025, but found interest difficult to drum up.

Portuguese GOAT Ronaldo, who has seen questions asked of his future in the Saudi Pro League, is said to have a €50 million (£43m/$58m) release clause in his deal at Al-Nassr. It has been claimed that teams across Europe and MLS would be willing to trigger that in order to acquire the 41-year-old ex-Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus superstar.

In contrast, nobody is willing to splash out on Salah while also inheriting his reported £400,000-a-week salary. With that in mind, Purslow has explained why impending free agency makes sense for all concerned.

He has told The Football Boardroom Podcast of why Liverpool are parting with an asset that was once considered to be their most prized: “There could be lots of explanatory reasons, but the cold, hard facts are Mo Salah’s form has dipped dramatically. 

“Elegant and smart, and it flows from an obvious fact that after the famous blow-up, where Mo essentially dug out Arne Slot. That was a very significant blow-up and we said at the time, it was likely to lead to some sort of divorce. It is the kind of football equivalent of a no-fault divorce. It suits both parties.

“What has happened between the blow-up and now, I think we can safely conclude, that Liverpool would have been looking towards the transfer market to find a way out of a very messy situation with Mo.

“I suspect they found, maybe to their surprise, there wasn’t a market for Mo where someone was going to buy a player with 18 months left on his contract for millions and millions of pounds.

“The cold, hard facts are a player of Mo’s age whose form has dipped, question marks permanently but certainly this season meaningfully, on figures north of £300,000 per week, there was not a transfer market for Mo where he would earn the same amount or more and Liverpool would be paid millions of pounds to release him.

“The two criteria here in elite football are salary and age and profile. There are a tiny number of mega-star footballers who have moved for large transfer fees in their mid-30s. Cristiano Ronaldo is one and people hoped Salah would be another Ronaldo.”

Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo joined Juventus from Real Madrid for €100m (£87m/$115m) in 2018. He was 33 years of age at the time. Salah has reached a similar stage of his career, with his reputation in world football still high, but will leave Liverpool as a Premier League and Champions League title winner without any funds being generated from his departure.