Mohamed Salah ready to one-up Cristiano Ronaldo with $1.3 billion prediction

Mohamed Salah has announced he will leave Liverpool this summer, with a football finance expert predicting what that could mean financially for both the player and club

Mohamed Salah is predicted to earn more than Cristiano Ronaldo after his Liverpool exit(Image: Getty Images)

A football finance expert reckons Liverpool could have significant spending power for fresh signings this summer following Mohamed Salah's departure from the club.

Salah, who has confirmed he will bring his illustrious nine-year spell at Anfield to a close at the end of this season, is predicted to become a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) footballer should he make the switch to Saudi Arabia.

Where the Egyptian forward heads next is still uncertain. However, the Reds must now seek a replacement for the club's third all-time leading scorer after agreeing terms over the remaining 12 months of the two-year extension he penned just in April 2025.

Reports have widely suggested that Salah, who has netted 255 goals in 435 outings for Liverpool since his £34.3M ($45.9M) transfer from Roma in June 2017, will depart on a free transfer, reports the Liverpool Echo.

While the Reds won't pocket a transfer fee for a player who attracted a £150M ($201M) bid from Al-Ittihad in September 2023, they will free up his wages, understood to exceed £400,000 ($535,000) per week, from their salary commitments.

Rob Wilson, Professor of Applied Sport Finance at University Campus of Football Business in London, told BettingLounge: "Extracting any meaningful transfer fee while also removing the highest-earner off their wage bill just wasn't realistic so terminating his contract makes financial sense.

"From Liverpool's perspective, the economics are really quite clear, even if, emotionally, particularly for the fans, it probably feels like the end of an era.

Mohamed Salah will call time on his glorious Liverpool career at the end of the season(Image: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)

"Salah's been one of the most commercially impactful players in the club's modern history but I think we're at a point now where his on-the-pitch contribution, age profile and wage level has really diverged from an optimal position in terms of squad efficiency.

"I think Liverpool really should have cashed in when he was at peak value before providing him with a very lucrative contract and what we're seeing now is an outcome of that big decision, tying him to excessive wages at a time when his physical prowess will naturally diminish.

"From what I'm seeing there will be no transfer fee. It's a termination of contract. What that means is that they remove one of the highest salary commitments that they've got on their books and from a pure financial modelling standpoint it is a positive outcome.

"It frees up some PSR space and so on, so what you're really doing is recycling capital to free up wages, create that headroom and enable you to reinvest into younger assets with more longer-term resale value.

Liverpool could reinvest after Salah's departure, despite the winger leaving for free(Image: Alex Pantling - UEFA, UEFA via Getty Images)

"Naturally there is of course a commercial trade-off. Salah has been central to Liverpool's global brand, and particularly their digital footprint, and their branding exercise in the Middle East and Africa, so his departure will probably create a short term dip in engagement metrics.

"Things like shirt sales, digital reach and sponsorship activation in those territories which means, when coupled with Liverpool's rather patchy season that they've had in the Premier League, it is likely to damage their market share in those territories, although they are naturally a very historical brand.

"To counteract that, we probably should say that Liverpool's commercial models are much more mature and diversified than many other clubs in the Premier League. They're already less dependent on a single individual than they might have been five years ago.

"The key will not be how quickly they can replace Salah's output but how quickly they can change the narrative. Football brands are built on storytelling as much as they are on performance."

The Reds invested nearly £450M ($602M) last summer as they rebuilt their Premier League title-winning squad, with the £116M ($155M) and £79M ($106M) signings of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike respectively being followed by the £125M ($167M) British record transfer acquisition of Alexander Isak. They also brought in close to £230M ($308M).

However, their title defense has struggled significantly and they have entered the international break 21 points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

There have been mitigating circumstances behind Liverpool's domestic decline, with one being the downturn in Salah's form, who has only managed to score 10 goals across 34 games in all competitions. Yet the 33-year-old remains highly sought after, having cemented his reputation as one of football's elite talents.

Salah's representative, Ramy Abbas-Issa, confirmed on Tuesday that "we do not know where Mohamed will play next season."

Salah has given no indication yet of where he will go next(Image: Carl Recine, Getty Images)

His prominent client has repeatedly been linked with the Saudi Pro League, and Wilson reckons such a transfer could elevate Salah's stature and wealth beyond even Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

"This is a pivotal moment not only for Mohamed Salah the football player but also Mohamed Salah the global brand," Wilson said.

"It's widely expected that he will finally make the move to the Saudi Pro League, and I think that would be more than just a late career move to cash in.

"It's potentially the most strategically significant commercial decision that we've seen from any modern day football player. It would put Salah on a very realistic trajectory to potentially even surpass both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in terms of career earnings and as a brand become a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) athlete in his own right.

"The reason for this is less to do with Salah's performances and more about his alignment with the cultural capital across the Middle East, North Africa and the broader EMEA region where he is utterly unmatched by anybody else in sport.

Salah is predicted to earn more than Cristiano Ronaldo after his Liverpool exit(Image: Getty)

"Salah doesn't just sell shirts, he represents identity, values, faiths and aspirations to hundreds of millions of people throughout that region and if you place Salah into the Saudi Pro League ecosystem, which has clearly been engineered as a geopolitical project, the upside is enormous.

"We're not just talking about a standard contract when it comes to Mohamed Salah to Saudi Arabia. We're talking about something that would be fully integrated in terms of its commercial appeal and its platform. That's salary, his image rights, his ambassadorial roles and sovereign partnerships. Very similar to what we saw with Ronaldo but on another scale.

"I'd estimate a total deal structure including wages, bonuses and commercial activations approaching the £1 billion mark over five to seven years if he can keep going until he is 40, as has been the case with Ronaldo.

"This would be structured even more aggressively than Ronaldo's move so that Salah would probably go on to ultimately exceed £1 billion in lifetime earnings during this period, and that's really before we even start thinking about his post-playing opportunities.

"Salah may not be paid as highly as Ronaldo initially in terms of basic wages but he would likely become a long-term, global ambassador for Saudi Arabia's broader economic and cultural strategy, particularly with the lead up to the World Cup in 2034.

"Given the alignment and geopolitical aspects, Salah would likely surpass Ronaldo's annual earnings before the age of 40, leading to annual earnings in excess of £250M ($334M) a year."