Media reports have confirmed that poor public attendance at several Saudi Professional League matches could play a role in not moving Liverpool star Mohamed Salah to the competition.
Al-itthad made superstitious attempts to sign Salah this summer, and media reports indicated that the Saudi league champions’ offer reached £215 million, other than additions. Despite the enticing presentations made by the Al-itthad, Liverpool insisted on their position not to sell Salah, something confirmed by Reds manager Jurgen Klopp on more than one occasion.
With Liverpool holding on to mohamed Salah continuation, the Al-itthad was unable to complete the deal this summer, but several sources confirmed it would renew its attempts later. The English newspaper Liverpool Echo said the Saudi League had a clear weakness, despite its financial strength, in the absence of fans in many matches.
According to the newspaper, last round’s al-wehda and al-khaleej match saw 447 fans attend a stadium with a capacity of 38 thousand. The newspaper close to Liverpool reported that the attendance rate for half of Saudi Professional League clubs is only 5 thousand fans. Al-Hilal’s draw with Al-Fayha (1-1) saw the highest crowd attendance so far this season with nearly 60 thousand fans, while the lowest attendance of just 133 people at the Riyadh and al-akhdood games. Salah has been playing for Liverpool since the 2017-18 season, and had his contract renewed in the summer of 2022 to last until 2025 (end of next season).
Egypt’s captain has made 18 appearances for Liverpool this season in various competitions, scoring 17 goals and setting up 5 goals.
