Inter send bid, Fiorentina send threats in today's episode of the Salah soap opera

The newest chapter of Mohamed Salah's transfer saga gets a new dramatic spin! The soap opera continues as Fiorentina sent a letter of formal notice to Inter Milan, with the intention of dissuading the Nerazzurri from contacting Salah for a transfer by claiming that Salah still is a Viola player.

Inter received a letter from the club of the Della Valle of formal notice for contacting a player under contract with Fiorentina.

Maybe Viola Nation's editorial yesterday had a message underneath: something like that was bound to happen. Fiorentina seem keen in trying to keep Salah in the club, even against his own will by trying to evoke legal action into play. And they're also using legal terms to claim that Inter Milan shouldn't approach Salah for a transfer.

Fiorentina invokes Article 18, paragraph 3 of the Regulation on the Status and Transfer of Players of the FIGC [the Italian FA]: "A club intending to conclude a contract with a professional [player] must inform the company in writing of membership of that before embarking on negotiations with the professional in question. [...] Any violation of this provision will be punished with appropriate penalties."

-source: La Gazzetta dello Sport

For their part, Inter manager Roberto Mancini laughed off suggestions of being interested in the Chelsea loanee, saying his phone ran out of credit after talking to a whole bunch of other players ... and then the Nerazzurri went ahead and submitted a bid of around €20m anyway.  Inter are hardly alone in their interest, if Salah's agent is to be believed.

"Mohamed will go back to Chelsea now, but I can assure you he will 100 per cent never return to Fiorentina."

"He has offers from other foreign Leagues, but if he leaves Chelsea then it'll be for a return to Italy. Inter and Juventus? No comment, they are two great clubs, but first they have to speak to Chelsea. I can confirm their interest in Salah, but Milan and Roma are there too. These are the four clubs in the running."

"Which one does he prefer? I cannot answer that question now."

-Ramy Abbas; source: Football Italia

Regardless — and Juve supposedly dropped out already — this is getting uglier by the day. Fiorentina seem blind to the fact that without Salah's signature, the loan extension negotiated between the Italian club and Chelsea is useless — especially if Salah has veto powers, as it's been claimed all along. Fiorentina would most likely not win in the courts if they ever consider suing all parties interested, including Inter Milan and perhaps even Chelsea.  And even if it doesn't come to that, forcing Salah to come "work" for La Viola at this point seems like an arrangement with absolutely no chance of resulting in a positive outcome.