Saudi Pro League football chief Michael Emenalo has defended Al-Ittihad's pursuit of Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah.

Emenalo insists everything was done above board in their bid for the Egypt international.

He told talkSPORT: “Mo is someone I consider almost like a son, he's a player that I admire and a human being that I absolutely adore.

“But the Saudi Pro League is not about capturing headlines, it's about putting in processes and doing things properly and the feeling is that at this moment in time a deal was not aligned.

“We said we would do things correctly and as you have seen Mo Salah remained at Liverpool.

“I remember when I was just about to join Monaco and a certain player [Kylian Mbappe] I would have loved to keep was sold for £168million, it didn't seem disruptive and there wasn't all this opera.

“The rumours are never close to the fact and I think what you're expressing isn't even close to what it was. I think I will leave the negotiations to where it should belong.

“I don't know what we're going to do, but we will do what is right for the SPL and take it one solution at a time."