Besiktas Pursues Rafael Leao After Mohamed Salah Stalemate
Besiktas thought they had their marquee signing lined up. Mohamed Salah, a free agent after his Liverpool contract expired on June 30, was within touching distance of Istanbul, with an offer on the table worth a staggering €12.5m per year.
Now the deal is frozen.
Talks have ground to a halt over commercial rights and agent fees, with Besiktas drawing a firm line. The club will not meet demands over a share of shirt-sale revenue or the commission requested by Salah’s representatives, and that has dragged negotiations into a dead end.
Sporting director Onder Ozen lifted the lid on how quickly the mood changed.
“For a while now, speculation about Mohamed Salah has increased. The matter has been discussed from every angle. There are things we want to clarify regarding it. We made contact with Salah. That also included a model for financing the deal,” he said, outlining how the club initially built a framework they believed could work.
The optimism did not last.
According to Ozen, as the start of the new season crept closer, the tone of the talks shifted. What began as smooth, constructive dialogue turned heavy and complicated.
“When talk of the financial side began, that smoothness which had been there on the first day started to slow down as of 21 July. Requests began to arrive that would drive the flow of information and the financial side into a dead end,” he explained.
Besiktas refused to budge. The club see their financial and legal thresholds as non-negotiable, even for a global star of Salah’s stature. Ozen made it clear they will not expose themselves to what they consider excessive or potentially unlawful payments.
“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 said. “When it comes to Besiktas, not entering into such a situation is also among the requirements of belonging to the club. The president has taken an unpopular decision, and has decided to withdraw temporarily from the negotiating table in the Salah deal.”
That “temporary” withdrawal feels like more than a pause. It is a statement about where Besiktas draw the line in a market increasingly shaped by image rights, commercial add-ons and third-party interests.
And it has pushed them towards another headline name.
From Salah to Leao
With the Salah pursuit stalling, Besiktas have moved quickly to identify a new attacking cornerstone. According to Football Italia, they have officially opened talks with AC Milan over Portuguese winger Rafael Leao.
This is no like-for-like swap. Leao operates from similar wide areas, but he brings a different profile: younger, more explosive, and a long-term project rather than a short-term coup. For any coach, he offers a different kind of chaos on the flanks.
The shift also transforms the financial equation. Salah, as a free agent, required no transfer fee, only a huge wage packet and complex commercial arrangements. Leao is tied to Milan, and the Italian club have set out their stance clearly: no loans, no options, no creative structures. Only a straight cash sale.
The price for the former Serie A Player of the Year is understood to sit between €50m and €60m. That is a level that would test even Europe’s elite, let alone a Turkish side trying to balance ambition with realism.
Leao’s demands
Any club wanting Leao must do more than satisfy Milan. The Portugal international expects a package befitting his status and the interest he attracts from Europe’s traditional top-five leagues.
Reports indicate Leao will not entertain a move to the Turkish Super Lig unless his wage expectations are fully met. He is said to be seeking at least €8m per season, plus performance-related bonuses. For Turkish football, that is a towering commitment.
Besiktas, though, do not seem scared off by the numbers. Having been prepared to hand Salah €12.5m annually, they have already signalled a willingness to operate at the top end of the market for a genuine talisman.
They are not alone in this race. Galatasaray and Fenerbahce have also been linked with Leao in recent weeks, adding a fierce domestic edge to what is already a complicated international negotiation. The “Black Eagles” hope that their formal contact with Milan gives them a crucial early advantage.
From a collapsed move for a global icon to an audacious push for one of Serie A’s brightest stars, Besiktas have made their intentions clear. The question now is simple: will their financial discipline hold under the weight of their own ambition?
