The Argentine maestro wants his club Barcelona to sign Mohamed Salah this summer after the Catalans missed out on Antoine Griezmann.
Barcelona’s failure to sign French forward Antoine Griezmann has now put them on the trail of other viable options instead, and they could soon be chasing Liverpool’s record goalscorer from last season. According to The Sun, Barcelona’s talisman Lionel Messi has urged the club to sign Salah to bolster their attack.
Lionel Messi has requested for further attacking signings despite spending big money on moves for Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund and Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool for fees that cost more than £200 million combined.
For months now, Barcelona were expected to sign the Atletico Madrid forward Griezmann and the Frenchman was thought to be eager to sign as well. Only a few days back, however, he announced his intention to stay at Atletico for the foreseeable future, dashing all of Barcelona’s hopes in the process.
Messi and other Barcelona players on the other hand, were interested in the idea of Griezmann signing for the club and was excited by the Frenchman’s expected arrival. With his dramatic U-turn, Barcelona and Messi have to identify other targets to make that attacking, high profile signing happen and feel Salah could make the cut.
The Egypt international had a record-breaking debut season with Liverpool in the Premier League, scoring 44 goals in all competitions. That tally included 32 goals in the Premier League alone which saw him crowned the player of the season. Salah’s imperious form has thus attracted interest from a number of clubs.
Liverpool are preparing a new deal for their star man to avoid any potential head-turning moves from Barcelona or other clubs. Salah, who Liverpool bought from Roma last summer in a £34 million deal, are thought to expect upwards of £100 million for the player, and the Anfield club are expected to ask for way more than Barcelona paid for Coutinho in January.
Messi has been Barcelona’s most important player for years now and is believed to have plenty of clout with the hierarchy, especially when it comes to suggesting players to sign. With the idea of having another high profile attacker on the roster to support himself and Luis Suarez, Salah’s name has emerged on the top of his wishlist this summer.
Messi will push his club to go all out for his signature as he still feels the club haven’t sufficiently replaced Neymar who departed for PSG last summer. Despite Barcelona making some high profile signings, the Argentine legend feels there is still plenty of room for another high profile attacker to be part of the team and Salah, for his performances certainly fit the bill.
Whether Salah signs for Barcelona or remains at Anfield will be known after the World Cup, where he is representing Egypt. Salah has so far not seen any action after he remained on the bench for Egypt’s defeat to Uruguay in the opening game of their campaign.
