Al Ittihad are still pursuing Liverpool star Mohamed Salah this summer, according to a new report, and have a 'plan B' set up to complete the transfer.
The Saudi Pro League has coveted the Egyptian for much of the summer, submitting a verbal bid totalling £150 million to Liverpool last Thursday to sign the Egyptian.
The Reds promptly turned down the offer, but reports claimed that the league was willing to return with a bid of over £200 million to sign Salah for Al Ittihad.
But with the clock ticking down on the Saudi Arabian transfer window - it closes at 10pm on Thursday - Foot Mercato claim Al Ittihad believe they will likely not be signing Salah this summer, due to the amount of time needed to complete a deal.However, new reports suggest that the pursuit of the 31-year-old winger is far from over. And an ambitious 'plan B' to secure his signing has now been revealed.According to The Telegraph, Al Ittihad are determined to revisit their attempts to sign Salah if a deal does not go through before Thursday's transfer deadline.It is added, however, that they are still prepared to submit their £200 million bid before the window slams shut in a last-ditch attempt to convince Liverpool to sell.
Sources close to Al Ittihad are said to believe it is too late to strike a deal, but will move to 'plan B' - to launch further bids for Salah in the upcoming windows.
As a result, it appears that Nuno Espirito Santo's side will not be deterred to sign Salah, and may even increase their £200 million proposal. If such a proposal were to be accepted by Liverpool further down the line, the Egyptian would become the most expensive player in the history of football.
That record is held by Neymar's move to PSG - with the Brazilian currently playing in Saudi Arabia with Al Hilal.
He is one of the league's marquee signings this summer, along with Fabinho and Karim Benzema. But the league are desperate to add Salah to play alongside them, and will be back if a deal doesn't go through on Thursday.
