Marco Silva has been on the radar of many clubs this summer. The Portuguese is one of the highest paid coaches in the world.
It is understood Al Ahli without a manager, one of four Saudi teams recently acquired by the State Investment Fund, has made an offer of up to £40m for a two-year deal. This would beat Fulham's offer of £7m a year to Silva and give the 46-year-old an interesting decision to make.
Silva is believed to have a fee of £6m on Silva's current contract, which runs until next summer. Al Ahli are already in pre-season in Austria but are currently running without a coach. They want to quickly appoint a coach.
Fulham may be under some pressure from the SPL factor now infiltrating the Premier League. Their star player Aleksandar Mitrovic is known to be unhappy with the club's £52m valuation, ruling out a move to Saudi side Al-Hilal, who have already signed Wolves' Ruben Neves and Chelsea's Kalidou Koulibaly. Fulham have reportedly already turned down a £25m offer for Mitrovic.
Meanwhile, Liverpool and West Ham United are eyeing Joao Palinha as they look to fill the midfield vacancies created by recent major transfer moves.
Silva's future has been the subject of some doubt all summer, with Al Hilal actively pursuing him, who has since appointed another Portuguese manager, Jorge Jesus.
Silva flew with the Fulham team to the United States on Thursday for pre-season and games in the Premier League Summer Series. On Saturday they play Brentford in Philadelphia. Both Mitrovic and Palinha are on the tourism team.
First it was the players, now it's the managers.
The Saudi Pro League's explosive investment in Premier League talent has been a priority for the players, but now they are turning their attention to the managers.
Silva has always been the target of major investments by PIF and other Saudi club owners. He exceeded expectations last season at Fulham with a squad that averaged one of the oldest in the Premier League. Silva is a restless soul, to say the least. Fulham is the seventh appointment in a 10-year managerial career and wherever he went he demanded ambition from his hosts.
No one could accuse Khan's family of not caring about the interests of Fulham. Patriarch Shad, the US billionaire owner, has backed up some of the big spending with ups and downs, with around £500m invested over 10 years and the new Riverside Stand nearing completion. But the club has always had to trade shrewdly over the summer, and every season starts with Premier League survival as the priority.
Silva became popular with both players and managers after a successful season at Craven Cottage. Credit: Reuters/Peter Ni cholls
Silva may just want to push Fulham as hard as possible in contract negotiations to extend his current deal. Naturally, the Portuguese coach is very good about what he achieved last season. But there will be a limit to which Fulham is ready to go and no further. It makes sense for the club to try to move towards sustainability.
Flying out to the US this week for the Premier League Summer Series, Silva may well look over his squad of young players and a disgruntled Mitrovic and wonder why the picture doesn't look better. If it comes to money, then Saudi Arabia will surely be able to beat Fulham. As for the quality of football itself, only the Premier League wins here.
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