Mohamed Salah: Saudi chief reveals new transfer plan after Liverpool extension | OneFootball

Saudi Arabia's sports minister has played down the country's interest in signing Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah before he signed his new contract.

There were significant links between Salah and the Saudi Pro League for the best part of two years and it was widely expected that the Egyptian forward would take his talents to the Middle East this summer if Liverpool did not meet his demands over a new contract.

It was reported as recently as this month that Saudi officials still had confidence they were in the race to sign Salah this summer, but the speculation was brought to an immediate and concrete end when Liverpool's talisman inked a new two-year contract at Anfield.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, the super wealthy Gulf nation's sports minister, admitted Salah was the calibre of player the league dream of attracting but played down suggestions they actually pursued a deal for the 32-year-old.

"I mean, he's a superstar," Al-Faisal told the media. "He's an iconic Arab Muslim. He fits the identity of playing in the Saudi league.

Salah chose to extend his Liverpool contract / Shaun Botterill/GettyImages

"It was his decision to renew with Liverpool, but linking Saudi to him and everything... I think from day one, they link Saudi to him. There wasn't any discussions. But it's good to have that.

"Now you can see that any player who wants to renew their contract, [the media] are saying that they're coming to Saudi and most of it, 90% of it, is not true. But I think we have a strategy that we're working on and everyone is saying that we're just signing any players."

While the Saudi Pro League earned international attention by signing ageing superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante, there has been an evident shift towards younger talents like Marcos Leonardo, Jhon Duran, Moussa Diaby, Mohamed Simakan and Angelo.

"If you see the last number of players that we signed or the club signed are mostly young players wanting to develop the league," Al-Faisal added. "It makes the league very competitive.

"I'm not sure if you're following the league this year, but the competition is unbelievable in the top four clubs."