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Mohamed Salah to MLS: 'Most likely destination' revealed

25 Apr 2026 06:02 BST | 5 min read

Mohamed Salah, MLS

If Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah is to move to Major League Soccer this summer, his "most likely destination" is San Diego FC, despite previous suggestions that they are not interested in a deal.

The Egypt international will bring the curtain down on a trophy-laden nine-year spell at Anfield. Salah and Liverpool have reached an agreement to part ways this summer despite Salah still having a year to run on his contract.

The 33-year-old's reduced role this season, which saw him publicly feud with head coach Arne Slot in December, informed his desire to leave Liverpool in search of a new challenge.

Salah has no shortage of suitors, but signing him will not be easy. He is one of the best-paid players in the Premier League, so he will command a hefty financial package even if there is no need to pay a transfer fee.

This naturally narrows down his options, unless he is willing to take a significant pay cut. Saudi clubs are still believed to be in pole position to sign him, but Salah also has admirers across the pond.

MLS would love to have Salah

According to The Athletic, MLS would love to ring in what it hopes will be a transformative post-World Cup period with the signing of Salah. The league has gone back to targeting global superstars following the commercial success of Lionel Messi.

Salah would instantly become the second-biggest name in the league after the Argentine, so there is naturally some strong interest in signing him. However, a deal is not easy to pull off for American teams.

Mohamed Salah

No MLS franchise - not even Inter Miami - can match what clubs like Al-Hilal or Al-Nassr could offer Salah financially. Jorge Mas recently claimed that he pays Messi roughly $80 million (€68m) per year. Salah, meanwhile, could potentially earn up to €200m in Saudi Arabia.

Previously, it was also unclear which MLS club could even sign him. There were educated guesses - the Chicago Fire tried last year, San Diego are owned by an Egyptian-British billionaire, New York City FC have the roster space and financial muscle to sign him - but nothing definitive.

The Athletic previously played down the supposed interest from Chicago and San Diego. The former had moved on to different targets, while the latter was simply an easy but baseless link to make because of owner Mohamed Mansour.

However, the same outlet now reports that San Diego are Salah's "most likely destination" if he is to move to MLS. It is alleged that the league office has told clubs that nobody can claim the Egyptian's Discovery Rights, which would give a team the right of first refusal.

This was apparently done to allow San Diego to hold talks with Salah without them having to trade for his rights first. The 2025 expansion side won't try to match Saudi proposals that come in, but they could offer an ownership percentage similar to Messi's arrangement with Inter Miami.

They would, however, have to shoulder the entire cost of Salah themselves. Commissioner Don Garber has gone on record to say that the league will not aid the signing of the 33-year-old as it did with Messi, who reportedly earns cuts from MLS's Adidas and Apple TV deals.

The report notes that signing Salah would require some roster gymnastics from San Diego. Ahead of the season, the SoCal side opted for the U22 Initiative Roster Construction Path, which limits them to two Designated Player (DP) signings but permits four U22 Initiative players.

San Diego already have two DPs in 2025 MVP finalist Anders Dreyer, who plays in Salah's position, and Hirving Lozano, who has been told that he won't play for the team again but who refused to leave in the primary transfer window.

Unless an offer for Dreyer comes in that is too good to turn down, San Diego will obviously look to offload Lozano before signing Salah this summer. If they don't achieve this, then they won't be able to get the Egyptian.

A workaround could be agreeing a deal similar to the one that saw Thomas Muller sign for the Vancouver Whitecaps last year. The German agreed to play on a reduced salary for six months so that he could join the club without occupying a DP spot.

Whether Salah is willing to make this sacrifice is unclear. In fact, it is not even known if the idea of playing in MLS holds any appeal to him at all. At this point, signing the Egyptian still seems like a pipedream.