Fiorentina have threatened Mohamed Salah with legal action after the player informed them he did not wish to extend his loan from Chelsea for the forthcoming season.
Waiting in the wings are Inter, who are reported to be keen on bringing the 23-year-old winger to San Siro.
Salah, an £11m signing from Basel in 2014, moved to Florence in January on a six-month loan deal. After scoring scoring nine goals in 26 appearances, the Egyptian convinced Fiorentina to extend the agreement for a further season, with a view to a permanent move in 12 months time.
However, after weeks of rancorous discussions over personal terms, Salah’s agent, Ramy Abbas, informed Fiorentina on Thursday evening that he would not be returning to the club.
That has upset the Italians, particularly as they had reportedly made him “an insane offer”, according to the director Vincenzo Guerini, believed to be around £2.1m-a-year plus bonuses to keep him.
The club expressed their frustration in a statement released on their website on Friday afternoon.
“Through his representative, the player has rejected our improved contract offer and expressed his desire to join another club,” it read.
“He has also informed us that he does not intend to respond to our request for him to report back for pre-season training. As a result of the above, we have placed the matter in the hands of our lawyers so that they may assess all possible courses of action in order to protect the club’s rights.”
Salah failed to make an impact since moving to the Premier League and made only six starts in the Premier League before moving to Italy as part of the deal in which Juan Cuadrado switched to Stamford Bridge.
