London, United Kingdom – Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp insists he is not worried about the potential for renewed Saudi Arabian interest in Mohamed Salah when the January transfer window opens.
Salah was reportedly the subject of a £150 million ($185 million) bid from Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad before the Premier League transfer deadline on September 1.
Liverpool rejected the offer but Saudi Pro League director of football Michael Emenalo has claimed the door is not closed on a future move for the Egypt forward.
Klopp is determined to keep Salah but an Al-Ittihad bid of around £200 million has been mooted for January as the Saudi league eyes another marquee signing to join the likes of Neymar, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante.
It is a delicate situation that Klopp clearly hoped would be put to bed by the closing of the Saudi transfer window on September 7.
Salah has appeared unaffected by the speculation, scoring twice and assisting twice this season, but Klopp bristled when asked if he anticipated more approaches for the 31-year-old in the new year.
“You are kidding me. A week after we close the transfer window, you ask about the January transfer window?” Klopp told reporters on Friday.
“Obviously, you can’t wait until December to ask these questions. We will see what happens. Until then, I’m not worried in this moment.
“I didn’t even think about it until you opened that wound again. No, I’m not worried.”
Klopp has already seen England midfielder Jordan Henderson leave Anfield for the lucrative wages on offer in the Gulf State.
Henderson, 33, recently claimed he did not feel wanted by Liverpool when he returned from his summer break and decided to join Al-Ettifaq.
Klopp admitted he could not offer Henderson regular playing time this season as he looked to overhaul an ageing midfield.
“We had our talks and I told Hendo I wanted him to stay but we had to talk in these conversations about the possibility of not playing regularly,” Klopp said.
“Obviously for Hendo that meant, ‘OK, he doesn’t want me here’. I understand it 100 per cent but we clarified that.
“If I would have told him ‘Hendo, stay here, you will be the main man in midfield’, he would have stayed but as much as I wanted him to stay, I couldn’t say that so that’s why it was better that Hendo moved on.
“There’s not a bit of bad blood or whatever.”