Mo Salah to Saudi Arabia: when the Saudi transfer deadline closes, how long Liverpool could wait

Saudi Arabia has emerged as the new superpower in the world of football and the nation's vast wealth has enticed some of the biggest names to join the league this summer including N’Golo Kante, Karim Benzema, Neymar and Sadio Mane.

Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard has also started a new managerial adventure in the league with Al Ettifaq and he quickly acted to bolster his team with the signing of former Reds captain Jordan Henderson.

Fellow teammates Roberto Firmino and Fabinho also ended their successful stints at Anfield to move to the Middle East and there are further doubts emerging over the future of starman Mohamed Salah.

The Reds remain insistent on keeping their top scorer and they have turned down a £150m bid for the player.

Jurgen Klopp insists that his talisman is not for sale and Salah’s agent Ramy Abbas Issa wrote in a social media post earlier this month: “Mohamed remains committed to Liverpool.If we considered leaving Liverpool this year, we wouldn't have renewed the contract last summer."

However, speculation over the Egyptian continues to intensify and the saga shows no signs of ending in the next 24 hours as the Saudi Arabian league has a longer window of opportunity to sign players.

But when does the Saudi transfer window close and how has Klopp reacted to news on Salah’s future?

When does the Saudi transfer window close?

There is some confusion over how much longer the Saudi Pro League has to sign players.

FIFA have their transfer deadline day listed as Wednesday 20 September, which would give them nearly three weeks of extra time to sign players in comparison to Europe.

However, the league’s official website states that teams have until Thursday 7 September to register players.

Either way the league has at least six extra days to lure players from Europe's elite clubs, but teams may be less likely to part with their stars until January as they are unable to replace them.

What has Jurgen Klopp said about the Saudi transfer window?

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been a vocal critic of the Saudi transfer window and claims it gives teams in that league an unfair advantage.

Speaking about the situation, Klopp said: “The influence of Saudi Arabia is massive at the moment. Pretty much the worst thing, I think, is the transfer window in Saudi Arabia is open three weeks longer. If I am right, I heard something like that, then at least in Europe, that’s not helpful.”

He added: “ UEFA or FIFA must find solutions for that. But in the end, at this moment, I don’t know exactly what will happen. It’s already influential for us, but we will have to learn to deal with it.”