Transfer Centre

Roma chief plays down Mohamed Salah to Liverpool links

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 05 June 2017

Reports in the British and Italian press claiming that Mohamed Salah is on the brink of joining Liverpool are wide of the mark, according to Roma chief James Pallotta.

Roma president James Pallotta has insisted that reports of Mohamed Salah's impending transfer to Liverpool are wide of the mark.

It was suggested in both the Italian and British media at the weekend that the 24-year-old had arrived on Merseyside to finalise a club-record switch.

Despite Salah's agent describing the links as "fake news", fresh reports on Monday morning claimed that a move was as good as completed and official confirmation would be made in the next 48 hours.

Roma chief Pallotta has stressed that "there is nothing in it" as things stand, however, and the Italian club are instead looking to strengthen their squad following an impressive campaign that saw them finish second in Serie A.

"With these questions you seem like the Roman reporters," he told SiriusXM Radio. "In any case, there's nothing in it at the moment.

"We continue to receive offers for many of our players and if we were to listen to all of them, we'd lose three quarters of the squad. Now we'll see what to do.

"In order to improve, we need four or five quality reinforcements, because we'll be taking part in the Champions League too next year. This season we've been penalised by injuries, especially in defence. Alessandro Florenzi's injury cost us at least four points.

"We also don't have enough strength in depth for the attack. Edin Dzeko scored 39 goals, but if he had got injured, I don't know how our season would've ended."

Salah, who scored 34 goals in 81 appearances this season, has previous Premier League experience with Chelsea.