‘He wants to stay’ – Mohamed Salah transfer update delivered by Liverpool team-mate Dominik Szoboszlai amid talk of record Saudi move

Speculation regarding a move to the Middle East refuses to go away when it comes to a talismanic figure at Anfield. There was talk of Al-Ittihad tabling a £150 million ($189m) bid for Salah prior to the English transfer window closing, and that offer may be increased in the coming days as Saudi clubs remain free to spend.

Liverpool have Salah tied to a contract through to 2025 and Szoboszlai claims to have been given no indication that the 31-year-old wants to move on. He told BBC Sport: “You know it is football, everyone is talking. We are really happy that he has stayed. We are of course speaking between each other but he wants to stay, he wants to be here and be with us. We are really happy - we need people in the team like him.”

Salah was on target for Liverpool again in their 3-0 victory over Aston Villa. Szoboszlai broke the deadlock in that contest as he opened his goal account for the Reds, with the Hungarian saying of his first notable contribution to the Reds cause: “It feels always good to win, even away, but at home against I don't know how many people I am glad to score my first goal and there are going to be more coming. It's always different, in the first home game we started not so well and against Newcastle we didn't so the important thing was to come out well now and finish with 11 men. We did quite okay, quick to 2-0 and came out good and scored a goal in the second half too.”

Liverpool remain unbeaten in the Premier League this season, with 10 points taken from four games, and they will hope to see Salah stick around and aid another bid for major silverware in 2023-24.