Liverpool risk losing four stars to Saudi raid and Arsenal star is 'open' to shocking £84m move

The Saudi Pro League should be back with a bang in the summer transfer window and their obsession with trying to sign Liverpool players continues unabated.

The Saudi 2023 summer transfer window was an experience and while things were a little slower in the Middle East last year, there were still some ludicrous numbers floating around. The same can be expected in 2025 as the sportswashing piles up.

Gabriel Magalhaes

Arsenal first became ‘aware of interest’ in Gabriel from Saudi Arabia as far back as September 2023, but the five-year contract he signed the October before is starting to look a little less watertight.

The most recent report is that Al-Nassr are ‘intent’ on pursuing a deal this summer and have lined up a £16.8m salary package, which is roughly three times what he earns at the Emirates and would be tax-free.

Gabriel is understandably ‘open’ to considering those numbers but Arsenal could pose the biggest problem; they won’t entertain a deal for anything below £84m and would prioritise negotiating an extension with the centre-half in any case.

Darwin Nunez

Liverpool rejected two bids from Al-Nassr for Nunez in January, perennially intoxicated by the idea he might come good and petrified of the prospect he does so elsewhere.

A couple of days after the Reds turned down a reported £70m offer from Al-Hilal, the Uruguayan scored the only two goals in a crucial victory over Brentford as a late substitute to keep the toxic relationship alive.

But one goal in 13 appearances has followed and the most inevitable penalty shoot-out miss in history might finally have asked for too much patience from Arne Slot and the transfer committee. Nunez surely cannot survive the purported Liverpool attacking restructure; he and Jhon Duran can compete directly again for the title of biggest South American chaos merchant.

Luis Diaz

Might the same be said of Diaz? Slot clearly trusts the Colombian more – he has made 15 more starts than Nunez in all competitions – but that is a low bar to clear for a £49.8m forward who has scored a single goal in 2025.

With two years remaining on his contract and no sign of either renegotiations or a player who has never been particularly prolific or consistent hitting sudden career-best form at 28, Saudi might well finally beckon as Liverpool look to recoup more money they can steadfastly refuse to spend.

Mo Salah

There has been no attempt within Saudi Arabia to mask the general desperation to capture their holy grail. Both Salah and Liverpool have individually been offered around £150m by Al-Ittihad to sweeten a deal but neither party has been sufficiently moved to change any aspect of a fruitful relationship since the Egyptian’s last contract extension in July 2022.

That will have to change soon. Either Liverpool overcome their crippling fear of investing more millions into a phenomenal 32-year-old, or Salah can consider where he next wants to bottle a succession of cup finals. The Saudi option will exist until he retires and probably for a while after.

Virgil van Dijk

That languid stroll simply has to be unleashed on Saudi or MLS at some stage but the 33-year-old clearly has more to give at this level.

With that said, L’Equipe’s claim of ‘an initial offer from Al-Hilal worth more than €20million net’ would test anyone’s resolve. He can ask Steven Bergwijn what Ronald Koeman thinks of Saudi.

Kevin De Bruyne

“At my age, you have to be open to everything. You talk about unbelievable amounts in what may be the end of my career. Sometimes you have to think about that,” said De Bruyne in summer 2024, before the reality of his mortality as a player was laid painfully bare this season.

It will surely be his last. De Bruyne, when not injured, has been increasingly rotated for the bigger games and substituted early even when he has started. Saudi has not even really been mentioned since they made it known a year in advance that the Belgian and Salah would be their priority targets in summer 2025, but it takes more than one underwhelming campaign to be fully removed from that radar.

Ederson

Pep Guardiola personally stepped in to retain Ederson when an “unusual proposal” landed from Saudi last summer; he might have wished he hadn’t bothered. Manchester City have had far bigger problems this season but their goalkeeping situation has been sub-optimal.

Ederson’s seven clean sheets in 29 games is only marginally worse than Stefan Ortega’s four in 16, although pointing that out might push a jealous Brazilian closer to the exit.

If Football Insider is to be believed then the 31-year-old remains tempted by Saudi and what could be ‘the last big contract offer’ of his career.

Heung-min Son

The claim from CaughtOffside is that Al Ittihad and Al Hilal are both interested in Son and Spurs might well join them in finding a deal intriguing if a reported £42m offer is received.

Ange Postecoglou might not want to sanction the departure of his captain but a) Son turns 33 in the summer, b) his form has been middling at best, and c) Spurs could still kindly take the decision out of Postecoglou’s hands by permanently and entirely removing him from the equation.

Kingsley Coman

Since the curse of trophyless Harry Kane overrode the league title-hoarding excellence of Coman in 2023/24, it was a matter of time until the Frenchman upped and left Bavaria. It seems Bayern’s pursuit of Florian Wirtz could grease those wheels.

In an attempt to cobble together the funds for the jewel in Bayer Leverkusen’s crown, Bayern are sifting through their squad for undesirables. Coman has struggled to establish himself as one of Vincent Kompany’s more trusted players and so a solution might well have been found.

The forward’s ‘priority is a move to Saudi Arabia,’ according to Sky Germany, who reckon Bayern could be due a fee of about £30m in return.

Vinicius Junior

Saudi Pro League general manager of marketing communications Mohammed Basrawi has called it “a sensitive issue” but denied any suggestion that the division’s executives had met with Vinicius to discuss a move.

“Honestly, as a league, we don’t get involved in the signings each club intends to make,” he said. “Would we like to have him here? Of course we would, but we, as a league, don’t choose the signings; they depend on each club.”

It seems as though Al-Ahli are the frontrunners for a £252m deal potentially worth £168m a season to the Brazilian, who might have to sign away his Ballon d’Or hopes.

Frenkie De Jong

“These conversations to find out how the market is are frequent,” said Al-Ittihad director of football and former Barcelona executive Ramon Planes of ongoing interest in De Jong in February.

The De Jong ship does seem to have sailed in terms of him leaving Barcelona for anyone but if they start pulling financial levers again the high-earning Dutchman could be first out.

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