Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is attracting the attention of Saudi Pro League clubs (Martin Rickett/PA)
The SPL has made inquiries whether it might be possible to sign Salah during this window, which ends on February 2, but have received no encouragement.
It also remains to be seen whether Salah, at 33, finally wants to leave top European football should the decision be made to bring an end to his Liverpool career at the completion of this season.
Crucially, Saudi clubs will have more opportunities to make highly lucrative offers to marquee players such as Salah and Vinicius, whose own future is in doubt having stalled on a new contract at Real Madrid, later this year. His current deal ends on June 30, 2027.
A key factor is the expiration of the contracts of a number of big-name players − including Salah’s former Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mane, who is at Cristiano Ronaldo’s club Al-Nassr.
Al-Ittihad tried to sign Salah two years ago and are among those who are strongly interested again, but currently do not have the room to do a deal now.
Their potential departures include another former Liverpool player, Fabinho, N’Golo Kante and − perhaps most significantly − the striker Karim Benzema, who is 38.
“Very important players will finish their contracts in June 2026 and the league will invest in new stars like Salah,” one senior SPL source said.
“My perception is that if it happens it will be the summer and not now.”
The SPL is confident it can interest Salah, not least because he almost joined before he signed his new contract at Liverpool last season. There is also caution given how close they also came before Salah decided to stay.
There will be a fresh effort given his difficulties during this campaign, claiming he had been “thrown under the bus” and effectively made a scapegoat after being dropped when the team were going through a poor run of form.
This chimes with public comments made by Francesca Petriccione, a legal and strategic adviser to Serie A, Premier League and La Liga clubs, specialising in the Saudi Arabian market, who said that despite the SPL switching its approach and targeting younger players, an exception would be made for Salah.
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior REUTERS/Vincent West
Asked whether Salah was a unique case for the SPL, she told Sky Sports News: “Yes, exactly. The technical contribution and the global visibility that Mohamed Salah can bring to the Saudi Pro League is unbelievable.
“But today we are in a more mature phase, and this is not about football players going to Saudi Arabia for money and then leaving. This is about careers evolving and Saudi football becoming one of the legitimate stages of that evolution.”
Her remarks contradict those made by American businessman Ben Harburg, who owns the SPL club Al-Kholood. He claimed that Salah would be a “bad fit” for the league. Harburg added: “If it were between him and Vinicius, I’d take Vinicius.”
The SPL clubs will target both players, although Alvaro Arbeloa, Real Madrid’s new coach, who replaced Xabi Alonso, has been tasked with trying to make the 25-year-old Brazilian more settled again so he signs a new deal.
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Vinicius has been out of form this season and was not an automatic starter under Alonso.
Salah has also had problems, but made a successful return to the starting XI for Liverpool in their impressive 3-0 Champions League win at Marseille, with Arne Slot declaring, the day before the game, that his team would show whether there was an “issue” between him and the forward.
Salah returned to training on Tuesday after Egypt’s participation in the Africa Cup of Nations, which ended in a semi-final defeat. Facing Marseille was his first start for almost two months for Liverpool.