Paris Saint-Germain President Nasser Al-Khelaifi has distanced the French champions from Liverpool’s Mo Salah while the Ligue 1 leaders’ Qatari owners have also rejected speculation that they could sell the club.
The Egypt international us the subject of much speculation given his impressive form across the Premier League and UEFA Champions League which the Reds both lead but the 32-year-old is not a target for Les Parisiens according to Al-Khelaifi who did admit that “if there is an opportunity we will of course explore.”
“It is not true,” said the European Club Association supremo earlier this week. “He is a fantastic and amazing player but we have never considered him to be honest. We know every club would love to have him but this rumor about us is simply not true.”
Salah has 13 goals and 11 assists across all competitions to his name this season which has sparked a scramble to potentially be ready for January when he enters the last six months of his current deal at Anfield and can negotiate with potential suitors ahead of the summer.
PSG’s shaky UCL form has prompted much speculation about the French capital outfit’s project including L’Equipe’s claims that Qatari ownership has tired of the club and is looking to sell which was emphatically denied.
“This is completely false,” said a QSI spokesperson per Ben Jacobs. “The same newspaper writes the same complete rubbish week and week again. The shareholders have just spent $368 million on (brand new training facility) Poissy with further major expansions at Campus just announced, and are looking to invest hundreds of millions on a new stadium, while increasing our investments across soccer, sports and entertainment, but apparently we are looking to sell.”
Al-Khelaifi did not miss the chance to double down on PSG’s current project which is based around Luis Enrique and Luis Campos building a squad that is more focused on French talent and young players with strong potential than previous star power efforts.
“I cannot believe what is written and I sometimes even find it ridiculous but we never let ourselves be affected at all,” he said while in Hungary with the ECA. “We have started a new phase in the development of the club. Transformation and change take time. It requires patience and perseverance, not wild panic when things do not always go as you wish or when the wind blows. We have a short, medium and long term strategy and I fully believe in the coach, the players, our entire team. Our project has solid foundations and we will continue to build it.
“We have changed so much at the club in recent years, we are building a collective on and off the pitch, we have strengthened the institution, we have opened the best training center in the world in Poissy . I have absolute confidence in the project, the coach, the sports advisor and our team, and we will continue to evolve. And when times are tough, we support each other, that is what a good club does, that is what our supporters do too, who are incredible .”
PSG face a must-win trip to Austria next week to take on struggling Red Bull Salzburg with just three rounds of Champions League play left in the first edition of the league phase which so far has Paris in an elimination position after losses to Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich.
