Mohamed Salah would leave Liverpool for the Saudi Pro League last summer – until Jurgen Klopp announced that he was stopping on Anfield.
Salah, who was still able to bank a fortune in the desert when his contract with the Reds ends at the end of the season, was ready to call time on the head because he had become disillusioned with life among the German.
But Klopp's shock decision to end his eight-year rule, in combination with the appointment of Arne Slot as his successor, led to the Egyptian star having a dramatic change of heart, it was claimed by the former West Ham boss, slaves Bilic.
He says that the expectation in Saudi was that Salah would be a rival of Cristiano Ronaldo in the Pro League by joining with former Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema in Al-Eittihad.
Bilic, who was in charge of the Al Fateh Sports Club last year, said: “Mohamed Salah is the best striker in the Premier League, he is the best winger in the Premier League and he is the best number 10 in the Premier League.
“There was certainly a change this season under Arne Slot, because I had been to Saudi Arabia last year, I know he was not happy under Jurgen Klopp and we expected him to move.
“The whole of Saudi was ready for him – and he would have been the star of the competition. As far as we all are concerned, it was done and Mo Salah would join al-ittihad.
“However, it was not surprised that he did not move. He knows that the move is there for him when he wants to leave Liverpool. It is not a one -year -old take it or leave the project in Saudi. “
The suggestion that Salah had become tired of working under Klopp is a huge surprise. He won the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and two EFL cups among the German.
But Salah is now in the form of his life that spends the head of the lock for a Treble. The 32-year-old scored 30 goals and helped another 22 because Liverpool clearly rotated 13 points at the top of the Premier League and He is now being advertised as a balloon d'Or winner.
They are also in the last 16 of the Champions League and will meet Newcastle later this month in the Carabao Cup final. But conversations to keep Salah in Anfield for a 10th year and after that no breakthrough found.
The Egyptian will have his choice of clubs in the summer – but Bilic does not believe that he will become a member of another Premier League club. Bilic, speaking on the Line -up, a podcast collaboration between Betmgm and Talksport, said: “He (Salah) is certainly the best player in the world.
“The stuff he puts on the field is at a different level. Just give him a simple pass and he will do the rest. I think if he leaves it will be for Saudi Arabia. I can't imagine him in another Premier League club.”
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