Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah 'talks' claim made as Liverpool face anxious contract wait

With Mohamed Salah’s contract at Liverpool ending this summer, speculation around his future is growing. And with interest from Saudi Pro League clubs, the Catalan paper El Nacional believe Cristiano Ronaldo could be the deciding factor.

The Egyptian winger has been in fine form this campaign, with 14 goal contributions in 11 matches, making it clear that Salah’s level hasn’t dropped.

Despite being one of the best players in the Premier League, Liverpool have yet to strike an agreement to extend his stay at Anfield. Arne Slot will be desperate to keep Liverpool’s talisman, but his age and wage could be a sticking point in negotiations.

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Ronaldo was one of the first big names in world football to make the switch to the middle-east, setting a trend of older players moving to Saudi clubs on huge contracts.. N’Golo Kante, Neymar and Karim Benzema followed the former Manchester United and Real Madrid man in making the switch.

Now El Nacional (h/t Middle East Monitor) claim that in order to raise the standard of the league, the Portuguese legend believes that he must surround himself with elite players, including Salah. Signing the 32-year-old would be monumental for the Saudi league, especially because of the Egyptian's ‘idol’ status in the Arab world.

With this in mind, and the fact that Ronaldo has taken an ‘unofficial ambassador’ role on for the league, El Nacional have suggested that the Portuguese striker would do anything for the Egyptian to join him.

According to El Nacional’s sources close to Al-Nassr, Ronaldo would have spoken personally to Salah to convince him of the Saudi project and to follow in the footsteps of former Liverpool players Sadio Mane, Fabinho and Georginio Wijnaldum.