Liverpool uses ‘unusual’ transfer clause as Jordan Henderson refuses to make Mohamed Salah claim

Welcome to the Liverpool.com daily Media Digest. From transfers to tweets, it can be hard to keep up with everything going on in the Anfield sphere. Credible, incredible and anything in between: we round it all up in one place here, taking a sideways look at the day’s media goings-on from around the world.

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Henderson declines to make Salah choice

There can be no doubting the togetherness of the Liverpool squad. Plenty went wrong this season, but this is broadly the same unit that has won everything together, and Jürgen Klopp has helped to foster a collective attitude within the camp.

As such, it’s important not to make too much of a mountain out of a molehill here. But Jordan Henderson did raise eyebrows in a recent interview with Sky Sports, when he refused to answer one question about Mohamed Salah.

Asked to pick between club colleague Salah and international teammate Bukayo Saka in a game of ‘this or that’, the response from Henderson was surprisingly reticent. “Nah, you can’t do that, I can’t go there,” was the captain’s answer.

READ MORE: Mohamed Salah ‘hates’ Liverpool job Alexis Mac Allister can take amid $47m USMNT transfer saving

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Of course, as well as possessing the Liverpool armband, Henderson is a senior figure in the England setup. He would have been acutely aware of both roles when the question was posed. Still, it seems a little strange that he did not feel able to weigh in on the side of Salah, with even the Arsenal man surely able to admit that he has some way to go to catch up with the legendary Egyptian.

Liverpool utilizes transfer clause

There’s nothing like a classic Liverpool transfer to kick off the summer, and the deal to bring Alexis Mac Allister to Anfield has all of the hallmarks.

Most notably, the reported price looks to be a real bargain in the modern market, with Liverpool set to secure the World Cup winner for potentially as little as $56m (£45m/€52m). Having proven himself in the Premier League, this would be a major coup.

Even if the price is on the higher end of the reported spectrum, it still represents a shrewd deal for Liverpool, with Brighton renowned for driving prices sky-high. But FSG has had a key advantage in this negotiation.

In fact, it has not been a negotiation at all. Brighton rarely agrees to release clauses, but inserted one into Mac Allister’s contract when he signed a renewal last October, per the Times. Wary of the risk of eventually losing him for free, the Seagulls relaxed its normal policy, and put in a clause seemingly below his true market value — or at least below what it would become after his World Cup heroics.

Liverpool has astutely made the most of this unusual transfer clause, leaving plenty of leeway in the budget to pursue further midfield recruits.