Mohamed Salah's Next Move: Free Agent Drama Unfolds
Mohamed Salah stood on the wrong side of a World Cup classic on Tuesday night. Now the real drama begins.
The 34-year-old, freshly released by Liverpool after a gilded nine-year spell, watched Egypt’s 2-0 lead dissolve into a 3-2 defeat against world champions Argentina, Enzo Fernández striking deep into stoppage time to twist the knife. It was brutal, the kind of exit that leaves a mark even on a player who has seen almost everything the game can offer.
And yet, as Egypt bow out, Salah’s next move suddenly becomes the story.
A giant on the market
For the first time since he exploded at Anfield in 2017, Salah is a free agent. No fee. No negotiations with Liverpool. Just one of the most devastating forwards of his generation, available for whoever can afford him.
He leaves Merseyside as the club’s third-highest goalscorer of all time, a figure who helped redefine an era under Jürgen Klopp. The No.11 shirt on Liverpool’s right flank became a symbol as much as a position. That space will look jarringly empty when the new season starts.
Salah, though, still looks like a player with miles left in his legs. That is where the intrigue lies.
Saudi, MLS… and the calls behind the scenes
Fabrizio Romano, speaking on his YouTube channel, lifted the lid on the early manoeuvring around Salah’s future.
“He has the possibility from Saudi [Arabia] because in Saudi they always wanted Mo Salah. Already [for] two or three years, Mo Salah has been a top target,” Romano explained, underlining just how long the pursuit has been simmering.
The Saudi Pro League’s interest is hardly a revelation. Al-Ittihad pushed hard three summers ago with an audacious £150m deadline-day offer. Liverpool held firm then. There is no such barrier now.
Romano added that “from the MLS, some calls took place to understand the situation of Mo Salah, so MLS could be a possibility as well. MLS, Saudi, let's see what Salah decides, but after the World Cup there's going to be time for him and his agent Ramy Abbas to decide the future.”
No bids, no agreements, no done deals. But the phone lines are open.
Money, ambition and the next chapter
Any club stepping forward knows the scale of the commitment. Salah was earning around £400,000 per week at Liverpool before his contract expired. That level of salary instantly narrows the field.
Saudi Arabia can match it. Surpass it, even. The league has already assembled a gallery of stars by offering wages European giants will not touch. For them, Salah is more than a signing; he is a statement they have chased for years.
MLS lurks as a different kind of proposition. The league has grown in profile and pulling power, attracting big names at the back end of their careers but also trying to build something more sustainable, more competitive. Salah would be a marquee arrival of the highest order, a player who shifts global attention and sells out stadiums on name alone.
The question is simple, but the answer is not: what does Salah want?
At 34, he could easily choose the financial security and relative comfort of a move outside Europe. A final, colossal contract. A new stage, a new audience, less relentless scrutiny.
Yet there is another side. By all accounts, Salah is a ferocious competitor. He has built his career on obsession, on marginal gains, on refusing to accept limits. Players wired like that do not always see 34 as a closing chapter. Some see it as proof they can still dominate at the highest level.
If he believes he can continue to operate in Europe’s elite, the idea of “semi-retiring” to Saudi Arabia or MLS might feel premature. He would not be the first great player to reject the easy option for one last run at the top.
Europe waits, Liverpool adjusts
For now, there is no clear European frontrunner. No concrete talks have emerged, no club has stepped publicly into the spotlight. But the absence of noise does not mean the continent’s heavyweights are not watching. A free Mohamed Salah, still fit, still lethal, is a rare opportunity.
He will take a break first. Egypt’s World Cup exit, from 2-0 up to 3-2 down against the reigning champions, demands emotional recovery as much as physical rest. The timing suits him: the tournament is over, the market is open, and he and his agent Ramy Abbas can weigh every angle.
Back on Merseyside, the reality bites. Liverpool must learn to live without the man who turned cutting inside from the right into an art form. The rebuild of their forward line has already begun, but you do not simply replace Salah. You adapt. You evolve. You hope the collective can cover the absence of a phenomenon.
Salah, meanwhile, stands at the crossroads of his career. Saudi riches on one side. The bright lights and growing pull of MLS on another. The possibility, however faint or quiet for now, of one more European adventure still lingering in the background.
He has spent nine years defining Liverpool’s future. Now, for the first time in a long time, he alone defines his own.
