Önder Özen, the sports director of the Turkish club Beşiktaş, announced his club's withdrawal from the negotiating table with Egyptian national team star Mohamed Salah.
Mohamed Salah
Club: Free agent
Önder said in a press conference: "Requests began arriving that would complicate the financial side of the deal. I assume a respected player like Mohamed Salah is unaware of these details. But through his agent, financial demands emerged regarding image rights, in an amount the club has never granted to any player or employee before."
He added, "Our respected president precisely identified the point at which we must stop. Management is a legal operation, and there is a legal percentage for commissions, and exceeding this percentage could mean entering into illegal matters on some side. Therefore, our president made a realistic decision instead of a fan-driven one. At the present time, we have withdrawn from the negotiating table."
He clarified, "Beşiktaş's offer to sign Mohamed Salah, under the terms set by the club, remains on the table. If a positive response comes to this offer, we can discuss completing the deal. But we will not make any other offer besides this one. If the player's representatives wish to continue negotiations, that is up to them. They also informed us that they are negotiating with other parties as well. We will not back down from our position, and for us, the file ends here."
He explained, "We met with Mohamed Salah three times. My meetings with him were dedicated to explaining the Beşiktaş project, the team's squad, the style of play, the club's goals, the nature of the historical rivalry, and the atmosphere inside the club. The next day, our coach met with him, where discussions took place on the tactical aspects."
He concluded his statements, "Thus, the technical side of the negotiations was completed. But when we began discussing financial matters, the smoothness that existed in the early days of the negotiations faded, starting from July 21. The pace of information exchange slowed, and requests began arriving that would lead to the financial side stumbling."