Besiktas' Pursuit of Mohamed Salah Stalls Amid Commercial Demands

Besiktas’ bold pursuit of Mohamed Salah has stalled on the brink of the finish line, undone not by a lack of ambition, but by the fine print.

For weeks, the Istanbul giants believed they were edging closer to one of the most audacious signings in their history. Salah, a free agent after his Liverpool contract expired on June 30, had been offered a salary package worth around €12.5 million per year. The numbers were huge. The intent was clear. Besiktas wanted a superstar to build a new era around.

Then the deal hit the wall.

Commercial demands turn dream into deadlock

The sticking points are not about basic wages. Those, Besiktas were prepared to meet. The real battle lies in commercial rights and commission fees.

Salah’s camp pushed for a significant slice of revenue from shirt sales and a sizeable agent commission. Besiktas pushed back. The club’s leadership decided those demands crossed lines they had already drawn for themselves, both legally and financially.

Sporting director Onder Ozen laid out the picture with unusual candour.

“For a while now, speculation about Mohamed Salah has increased. The matter has been discussed from every angle,” he said. “We made contact with Salah. That also included a model for financing the deal.”

At first, the talks flowed. Then the tone changed.

According to Ozen, everything began to slow around July 21. Once negotiations moved firmly onto the financial structure, requests arrived that, in his words, “would drive the flow of information and the financial side into a dead end.”

Besiktas saw a red line approaching and chose not to cross it.

Legal limits and an “unpopular” call

The club’s position is rooted in more than simple cost control. Ozen stressed that Besiktas would not entertain commission payments that might breach legal thresholds.

“Working in the field of player management is legal, and there is a legal value for the commission, and exceeding it may involve an illegal situation,” he explained. “When it comes to Besiktas, not entering into such a situation is also among the requirements of belonging to the club.”

Then came the key sentence. Ozen revealed that the president had made what he called an “unpopular decision” and decided to withdraw “temporarily” from the negotiating table in the Salah deal.

Not a definitive goodbye, but certainly a hard pause.

For a fanbase that had already begun to dream of Salah in black and white, the timing bites. The new season is approaching, squad planning is tightening, and Besiktas cannot afford to wait forever on a deal that now hangs by a thread.

So they have turned, quickly, to a different kind of star.

From Salah to Leao: ambition takes a new shape

If Salah was the free-agent coup, Rafael Leao represents the blockbuster transfer.

According to reports in Italy, Besiktas have formally opened talks with AC Milan over the Portuguese winger’s availability. The message is unmistakable: the club’s appetite for a marquee name has not dimmed with the Salah setback.

Leao operates in a similar wide role, but brings a different profile. Younger, more explosive, and still with room to grow, he offers a dynamic option for any coach looking to stretch defences and build transitions around raw pace and power.

This chase, though, is an entirely different financial equation.

Salah could be signed without a transfer fee. Leao cannot. Milan, firm in their stance, are not entertaining loans or complicated options. Any deal must be a straight cash sale.

The price? An estimated €50–60 million for a former Serie A Player of the Year. That is the starting point.

A costly vision in a crowded race

Landing Leao would require Besiktas to clear two major hurdles: Milan’s demands and the player’s own expectations.

On the club side, the numbers are eye-watering for the Turkish market. On the player side, they are no easier. Reports indicate that Leao wants at least €8 million per season, plus performance-related bonuses, to even consider leaving the gravitational pull of Europe’s top-five leagues for the Turkish Super Lig.

For most clubs, that would be enough to cool the interest. Besiktas, though, seem prepared to stay in the conversation. They are searching for a talisman, a figure who can change not just games, but the club’s entire perception on the European stage.

They are not alone.

Galatasaray and Fenerbahce have also been linked with Leao in recent weeks. All three clubs understand what his arrival would signal domestically and abroad. Yet Besiktas can point to something concrete: a formal approach to Milan already in motion.

The message from Istanbul is clear. If Salah cannot be the face of their new project under the current conditions, Besiktas intend to find someone who can be.

Whether that someone is Rafael Leao now depends on how far a Turkish giant is truly willing to go in a market where every move is scrutinised, every euro weighed, and every risk measured against the promise of a star lighting up Vodafone Park.