Marco Silva will speak to Fulham’s owner, Shahid Khan, before deciding whether to accept an offer to coach Al-Ahli after the Saudi Arabian club made him an improved offer worth up to €40m (£34.7m) for a two-year deal.
Silva rejected an initial proposal from Al-Ahli, one of four clubs in Saudi Arabia owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund, which has majority ownership of Newcastle. Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez and Newcastle’s Allan Saint-Maximin are poised to become the latest players to join Al-Ahli, who have signed Édouard Mendy and Roberto Firmino this summer.
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'.
- If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.
- In the Guardian app, tap the Menu button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on sport notifications.
Silva has been in charge of Fulham since July 2021, winning promotion in his first season before finishing a comfortable 10th in the Premier League. Fulham this month turned down a €30m offer from another Saudi Arabian club, Al-Hilal, for Aleksandar Mitrovic after the striker agreed personal terms and this week Tony Khan, Fulham’s vice chairman and director of football operations, was asked about the Gulf state’s aggressive football spending.
“It’s amazing,” he told the Dan Le Batard Show. “I think if you have enough money you can get away with anything, including murder, and try to sign up all the top players in the world. Certainly they have approached a lot of great players and I’m very, very interested to see where this goes. But for us, we’re definitely committed to keeping our top stars and doing what it will take.”
Mahrez has completed his medical with Al-Ahli and the club have booked tests for Saint-Maximin, whose departure from Newcastle will clear the way for Harvey Barnes to sign from Leicester.
Manchester United have agreed to sell Alex Telles to Al-Nassr for £4m, the defender having signed from Porto for about £15m in October 2020, and Anthony Elanga to Nottingham Forest. The forward has approved the move and the fee will be close to £15m.
Forest continue to have an interest in Dean Henderson, though United’s preference is for a sale rather than a loan for the goalkeeper. Forest are closing in on the former Chelsea defender Ola Aina, a free agent after leaving Torino.
