Transfer Centre

Mohamed Salah, Kevin De Bruyne 'wanted by Saudi Arabian clubs next summer'

By Oliver Thomas, Senior Reporter | 10 August 2023

Salah, De Bruyne 'wanted by Saudi clubs next summer'

Saudi Arabian clubs are reportedly weighing up moves for Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne in the summer of 2024.

The current summer transfer window has been hugely dominated by teams in the Saudi Pro League recruiting a plethora of high-profile names from the big leagues in Europe.

Around £400m has already been spent by Saudi clubs on new players, with a significant chunk of that forked out by quartet Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr who are all controlled by the nation's Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Liverpool trio Jordan Henderson, Roberto Firmino and Fabinho are among several notable names to swap the Premier League for the Middle East, with the former joining Steven Gerrard's Al Ettifaq, while Riyad Mahrez, N'Golo Kante, Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves and Allan Saint-Maximin have also decided to seek pastures new.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the first big-name player to move to the Saudi Pro League, joining Al-Nassr from Manchester United in January, while Al-Hilal have seen a world-record £259m bid accepted for Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe, but the French forward allegedly has no interest in the proposed transfer.

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne celebrates with the trophy after winning the Champions League on June 10, 2023 © Reuters

There appears to be no signs of the Saudi club's spending slowing down any time soon, and they already seem to have one eye on recruiting top talent in a years' time.

Indeed, The Mirror reports that Saudi Pro League clubs are plotting moves for big-name players including Salah and De Bruyne in 2024.

The Premier League duo both turn 32 next June and are set to enter the final year of their contracts at Liverpool and Man City respectively next summer.

Saudi Pro League marketing chief Hafez Al-Medlej admitted last month that clubs from the division "must start working" on the potential signing of Salah.

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates scoring their first goal on April 10, 2023 © Reuters

However, Salah's agent Ramy Abbas Issa recently played down suggestions that the Egyptian attacker could leave Anfield this summer.

Salah, who has previously refused to rule out a move to either Barcelona or Real Madrid, has etched his name into Liverpool folklore since joining the club in 2017, scoring 186 goals in 305 appearances across all competitions and winning seven trophies including the Premier League and Champions League.

De Bruyne, meanwhile, has earned legendary status on the blue side of Manchester, scoring 96 goals and registering 153 assists in 353 appearances across all tournaments since moving to the Etihad Stadium eight years ago.

The Belgian playmaker has won a total of 14 trophies with Man City and was an integral member of Pep Guardiola's squad that won a historic Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble last season.