Besiktas president reveals the secret behind Salah deal failure

Besiktas president Serdar Adalı revealed a surprising detail about his club's negotiations with Egyptian star Mohamed Salah, confirming that manager Vincenzo Italiano was not keen on signing the player during the current summer transfer window. Salah's name had been linked to a move to Besiktas before negotiations ultimately led to Trabzonspor signing him on a two-year contract worth €17 million per season. Speaking at the presentation of new striker Dušan Vlahović, Adalı said that Italiano had been clear from the start about his attacking needs. He explained, "From the first day he arrived, Italiano was very positive. After he started working with the team, he told me we had an excellent squad and requested the signing of a good striker, and if the budget allowed, Vlahović." The Besiktas president added that the club's management made attempts to convince the coaching staff to pursue the Salah deal, but the manager was not enthusiastic about it. He continued: “When the Mohamed Salah deal was proposed, I made a great effort to convince the coach and the technical staff, but they weren’t keen on signing him.” Adali pointed out that Mohamed Salah and his agent’s demands also didn’t align with the club’s policy, explaining that the deal wasn’t part of Besiktas’s initial plans at the start of the transfer window. He said: “The conditions Salah and his agent requested didn’t match our club’s principles and weren’t part of our plans at the beginning of the transfer period, so we backed out of the deal.” The Besiktas president confirmed that completing the Salah deal would have affected the possibility of signing Vlahovic, who was a key target for the head coach. He concluded: “If we had signed Salah, we wouldn’t have been able to acquire Vlahovic, whom the coach wanted, so I’m very happy that we finalized the deal the coach requested.”