Beşiktaş president Serdal Adalı has publicly accused Mohamed Salah's agent of derailing the Turkish club's pursuit of the Egyptian forward, claiming an initial understanding with the player was in place before the representative sharply raised his financial demands. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Adalı directed his frustration not at Salah — a free agent since his Liverpool contract expired — but at agent Ramy Abbas.
According to Adalı, Salah was open to the move to Istanbul and went as far as meeting the club's new head coach, Vincenzo Italiano, together with its sporting director, signalling that he wanted to come. It was only after Turkish media reported that the transfer was close to completion, the president said, that the terms changed.
"After we had already reached an initial agreement, because the media published that the deal was close to being finalised, his agent raised his commission demand to inconceivable levels — around 35 percent," Adalı said, in remarks reported by the Israeli outlet ONE. "From our point of view, there is no chance of accepting such percentages. Moreover, we do not think Salah is aware of these sums."
Adalı also denied that outside intermediaries had been involved in the negotiation, insisting the club had dealt only with Abbas directly. The commission figure is, for now, the president's account alone; the agent's side has not confirmed it, and no fee or contract terms have been made public by either party.
Abbas, for his part, has pushed back on any suggestion that a deal exists. "I personally do not know where Mohamed will play next season," the agent said this week, adding that it is not his practice to hold talks with clubs his client would not want to join. Beşiktaş had earlier issued its own statement dismissing reports of a completed transfer as fiction.
Salah's next destination therefore remains genuinely open. Beyond Beşiktaş, the 34-year-old has been linked with Saudi Arabia's wealthiest clubs and with Major League Soccer, where The Athletic has reported a possible move to Sporting Kansas City — a scenario with a distinctly Israeli subplot, as it would make Salah a teammate of Israel international centre-back Or Blorian, who joined the MLS side from Hapoel Be'er Sheva in June.
If Adalı's version holds, the impasse is about the agent's percentage rather than the player's wishes, and talks could yet be revived; if Abbas's denials prevail, the Istanbul chapter may close before it begins. Either way, one of the most decorated forwards of his generation enters late July without a club, and every stated outcome — Turkey, the Gulf, or America — remains conditional on a negotiation that is still visibly unresolved.
