Beşiktaş have walked away from talks over Mohamed Salah after three meetings, a final offer and a public admission that they will not bid again. The Turkish club say the deal reached the financial stage on July 21st, then slowed down from that point. It is the sort of transfer story that looks close until the price is tested.
Besiktas's timeline
Onder Ozen, the club director, said: "We met with Salah three times before the financial part of the negotiations was discussed. Up to this point, everything was smooth. When the financial side began, the initial smoothness slowed down from July 21st onwards."
He followed that with the blunt part. "But Besiktas will not make another offer. The last offer we made to Salah is the final point that does not harm Besiktas's club identity."
That leaves the move in a clear state. Besiktas say they have made their final offer and are done. The club's recent form is hardly disastrous either, with three wins in their last five matches, but that has not been enough to turn the chase into a breakthrough.
The money gap around Salah
The financial side is where the story tightened up. Reports said the proposed package could be worth up to €12.5m, around €240k a week. That is a long way from the £400k weekly wage Salah earned in his final Liverpool season, which explains why the conversation quickly became about limits rather than momentum.
There is a reason the club were willing to put out a public line on the talks. Once the figures moved into that territory, Besiktas were always going to be judged on how far they would go. Their answer is now on the record, and it is no further. For Salah, that means the Turkish route has stalled rather than advanced, despite the multiple meetings and the early optimism Ozen described.
What happens next is simple enough: Besiktas will not return with another offer, so any revival would need a different approach from Salah's side or from elsewhere.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →
