Image Credits: Imago Images
When Mohamed Salah confirmed this week that he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season, cutting short the final year of his contract, the question on every football fan’s lips immediately shifted from when to where.
After nine trophy-laden years at Anfield – including two Premier League titles, a Champions League, and a career’s worth of records – the Egyptian King departs as a free agent, and the race to land him is already taking shape.
Saudi Arabia is already being named as the most likely destination for the 33-year-old. But one club not hiding their admiration is New York City FC. Speaking at the SBJ Business of Soccer conference in Atlanta, NYCFC President and CEO Brad Sims was asked directly whether reports linking the club with Salah held any truth:
“I would love to have Mo Salah,” Sims said as quoted by the New York Post. “We have not had any discussions with him or his people. What is most important is does the player want to come to MLS and be in New York City. We are not going to go out and sell someone on New York, the league or our club. We want players who really want to be here.”
Sims went further, stressing that star power alone is never enough at NYCFC. “You need the guys who are going to be the hardest trainers, good teammates and good for the locker room and the culture. We do a lot of due diligence, and not just on star players,” he added.
The comments came in the same week NYCFC celebrated the topping off of Etihad Park, their new stadium due to open in 2027 – a landmark moment that only sharpens the club’s appetite for a marquee signing to go alongside it.
It follows after Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber asserted that they would welcome Salah with “open arms” last December:
Obviously, if [Salah] ever decides to come to Major League Soccer, we’d welcome him with open arms,” Garber said. “I’d say he should reach out to Leo [Messi] and reach out to Thomas Müller and see how happy they’ve been and how successful they’ve been and how much they’ve really embraced being in Major League Soccer.”
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