Besiktas Shifts Focus from Salah to Leao

Besiktas thought they had found their marquee man. Mohamed Salah, out of contract after his Liverpool deal expired on June 30, was within touching distance of Istanbul and a contract worth around €12.5m a year. For a club desperate to plant a global star at the heart of their project, it looked like the perfect storm.

Then the numbers behind the numbers arrived.

The deal has now stalled, with Besiktas executives confirming that talks have been paused. Not because of the headline salary, but because of everything wrapped around it – commercial rights, shirt revenue, and the commission demands from Salah’s camp.

Sporting director Onder Ozen laid bare how quickly the mood shifted. The first contacts with Salah were positive, he said, and even included a clear financial model for how the club could carry the weight of such a signing. The tone was optimistic, the path seemingly clear.

Then came July 21.

As the start of the new season drew closer, fresh requests landed on the table. The smooth dialogue began to drag. Shirt-sale revenue splits, representative fees, and structures that, in Ozen’s words, would push the “flow of information and the financial side into a dead end” turned what had looked like a flagship deal into a legal and ethical minefield.

Besiktas refused to cross their own red lines. Ozen stressed that while player management and agent commissions are part of the modern game, there are legal ceilings that cannot be ignored. Any step beyond those limits, he warned, risks “an illegal situation” – and that is where the club drew a hard stop.

The message from the boardroom was clear: the badge comes before the blockbuster. Ozen revealed that the president made what he called an “unpopular decision” and pulled Besiktas, at least for now, away from the negotiating table for Salah. Not because they doubted his quality, but because the deal no longer fit within the club’s legal and financial framework.

So the search for a talisman has moved on, and quickly.

Besiktas have opened official talks with AC Milan over Rafael Leao, according to reports in Italy. On paper, it is a bold pivot: from a free agent in Salah to a fully contracted star in his prime, with Milan in no mood to entertain discounts or creative loan structures.

Leao offers something different. He also operates from the flanks, but with a younger, more explosive profile that would give any coach a new tactical dimension. His pace, his one‑v‑one threat, his ability to tilt a game in a single run – these are the qualities Besiktas want to build around.

The cost reflects that.

Milan have made their stance plain. They are not interested in loans, not even with options or obligations. Only a straight cash sale will be considered, and the price being quoted for the former Serie A Player of the Year sits in the €50m–€60m range.

And that is only the first hurdle.

Leao’s own expectations are just as demanding. The Portuguese international is understood to want at least €8m per season, plus performance-related bonuses, to even consider leaving the orbit of Europe’s traditional top-five leagues. Any Turkish club stepping into that conversation must be ready to commit to a long-term, top-tier salary package.

Besiktas, though, have not been scared off by the figures. After seeing the Salah move slide into stalemate, they appear determined to land a headline act, someone who can carry the team and the club’s image in equal measure.

They are not alone in the race. Galatasaray and Fenerbahce have both been linked with Leao in recent weeks, and the battle for his signature has the feel of an arms race at the top of Turkish football. Yet Besiktas can at least point to one concrete advantage: they have already made a formal approach to Milan.

From Salah to Leao, from a free agent to a €60m asset, Besiktas have made their intentions obvious. The only question now is whether their financial discipline and their ambition can coexist in the same deal.