Eight ludicrous rejected bids as Salah agrees free Liverpool exit after £150m Saudi offer | OneFootball

Back in August 2023, Liverpool turned down an incredible £150million offer from Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad for Mohamed Salah.

The Egyptian king’s decision to leave Anfield on a free transfer this summer got us thinking: will Liverpool regret not accepting that bid?

Without Salah, the Reds don’t win the Premier League last season. That’s the argument against there being any regret. The argument for Liverpool being regretful is that Salah has been pants this season and will walk for nothing at the end of it, a little over a year after signing a lucrative new contract.

From Salah’s point of view, he went on to obliterate tonnes of Liverpool and Premier League records, so we doubt there is much regret on his side. He is clearly someone who cares about legacy and being remembered as one of the greatest players ever. His 2024/25 campaign solidified his status as the greatest winger in Premier League history – that is worth not earning a million quid a week in the Middle East, we reckon.

It is a truly fascinating debate. Was the Premier League title worth turning down £150m for a 31-year-old Salah?

For me, Clive, it most certainly was.

Liverpool won’t have earned £150m from finishing first, but the title is worth so much more than the prize money that comes with it. They have been vindicated.

There have been some very silly rejected bids over the years, though, and whether or not you believe the Reds should have cashed in on Salah in 2023, you will definitely agree that these eight examples are hilariously worse decisions.

Here are some laughable rejected bids, including Chelsea turning down £70m for a player they sold for £3m three years later.

Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea to Bayern Munich, £70m)

Yes, Bayern offered Chelsea £70m for a player who joined Nottingham Forest for £3m three years later.

It was a mental offer, but Hudson-Odoi was a very promising player back in 2020. You can kind of understand it. There is some logic behind it. Not much, but a smidgen.

Bayern wanted to sign Hudson-Odoi on an initial loan deal ahead of the 2020/21 season, but Chelsea weren’t interested in an option or obligation to buy – they wanted a permanent sale or to keep the talented winger.

CHO would get his German excursion in the 2022/23 season, spending the year on loan at Bayer Leverkusen. He underwhelmed with one goal and one assist in 21 appearances before returning to Stamford Bridge to be sold to Nottingham Forest for pennies.

Kylian Mbappe (PSG to Real Madrid, £137m)

Rejecting this sort of money for someone in the final year of their contract is mental. Rejecting this sort of money for someone in the final year of their contract who is clearly going to join the bidding club on a free transfer is absolutely sodding mental.

Real Madrid offered a reported £137m for Mbappe in 2021 and PSG said no, probably out of pure pettiness, which we do rate, to be fair.

Surprisingly, Mbappe went on to sign an extension in Paris in 2022, but he left in acrimonious circumstances when his deal expired, joining Madrid in one of the most lucrative free transfers in football history.

Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton to Al Nassr, £75m)

We love that Brighton and Mitoma told Al Nassr and their Saudi trillions to go away, but that doesn’t mean we don’t think the club were a bit silly for doing so.

Mitoma is a fine player and was much more important to Brighton when Al Nassr and Bayern expressed interest last January, but their decision to reject £75m – on deadline day, to be fair – felt wrong at the time and has aged very poorly.

The Japanese winger has struggled with injuries since – something neither the player nor the club can legislate for – and his output has dramatically declined. Mitoma has just two goals and one assist in 22 games this season. We reckon Brighton would take £75m now…

Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa to Arsenal, £60m)

You could argue that Villa sold the wrong striker in the 2025 winter transfer window. You could also argue that Arsenal were stupid to wait until the final days of the window to bid for Watkins. You could probably also argue that getting £71m for Jhon Duran – who has played for Al Nassr, Fenerbahce and Zenit St Petersburg in the last year – was a masterstroke, and that Villa could not have survived selling both of their first-team strikers.

Villa’s intention to accept big money for Duran influenced their decision to reject Arsenal out of hand, denying Watkins a move to his boyhood club. Duran’s development has nosedived since departing, but had he stayed at Villa instead of Watkins, he might have continued on the same trajectory and become unstoppable under Unai Emery.

I guess we’ll never know.

What we do know is that Watkins is nowhere near the level he was at when Arsenal offered Villa £60m.

Wayne Rooney (Man Utd to PSG, £135m)

This happened. Apparently.

PSG were throwing their weight and cash around following their Qatari takeover and reportedly lodged a then world-record bid for the United superstar.

In a remarkable display of self-control, United said no and Rooney stayed at Old Trafford for another five years.

We’d have loved, loved, loved to see this happen.

Richarlison (Everton to Barcelona, £85m)

Genuinely the greatest example of everyone being f***ing mental. What were Barcelona thinking? Well, as was the case in this period, they probably weren’t. And what on earth possessed Everton to turn it down? Was it a bizarre PR stunt on both sides? We wouldn’t put it past either Barca or Everton.

Everton did eventually get decent money from Tottenham Hotspur for Richarlison after he scored some huge goals to keep them in the Premier League. So it did, kind of, work out fine for them.

But, again, we must ask: what the f***ing f***, Barca?!

Anthony Gordon (Everton to Chelsea, £60m)

Gordon has gone on to become an established Premier League winger at Newcastle United, but at the time of this Chelsea bid, we had no idea who was more stupid: Chelsea for offering £60m or Everton for turning it down. Considering the trend, Everton were surely the guilty party.

Ultimately, Gordon became a £45m winger when he signed for Newcastle in January 2023. He has definitely justified that price and is arguably worth double. The Magpies are in a state of disarray and it is likely the England forward leaves for a similar fee this summer. Maybe Chelsea were ahead of the curve. For once.

Everton could have earned an extra £15m from Gordon’s sale in August 2022 and, had that transfer gone through, it would have been a bats**t signing from Chelsea’s point of view, yet it might have worked out pretty well in the end.

Alexander Isak (Newcastle to Liverpool, £110m)

Sure, Newcastle received a Premier League-record £125m for Isak on deadline day last summer, but the entire saga was a complete and utter shambles that ruined their pre-season and ultimately their campaign.

Isak was always going to leave. He simply couldn’t return after everything that went on. Newcastle should have taken their medicine early to better prepare for the season.