No sooner had the ink dried on Mohamed Salah’s farewell statement than the debate turned to who Liverpool will sign to replace him.
The answer is no one. Don’t worry Reds fans, Liverpool will buy one forward at the very least – but you do not and cannot replace a man of Salah’s era-defining talents.
This turgid Liverpool season has illustrated that: the Egyptian’s form has fallen off a cliff, and look at the league table. Had he been injured for the whole of last season, where he scored 29 and assisted 18 more, would they still have won the Premier League?
Yet replacing Salah is now top of the to-do list for a hierarchy whose own futures hang firmly in the balance, with the 33-year-old forward not the only one courted by Saudi Arabia. Sporting director Richard Hughes and his boss Michael Edwards are also said to be fancied over there.
So instead of the calm summer many would have predicted last year after they spent a whopping £450million, a transfer window of turbulence awaits. This is without mentioning the fact that Arne Slot, the head coach, is on trial with the fanbase.
Salah’s exit announcement, like most of his rare public addresses, carries weight and felt like bombshell news – but this was no surprise.
Indeed, as reported by Daily Mail Sport last week, the Saudis have been getting hotter on Salah in the last months. As written then, a source in Egypt said that it would be hard to see both Salah and Slot in the same team – and that has come to fruition sooner than expected.
That breakdown in relations with the boss, which led the player to publicly slam Slot and say the club had thrown him ‘under the bus’ in December, undoubtedly played a part in his decision to leave, though murmurs that this would be his last season started way before their fallout.
It was around that time that Salah and his entourage started talks with the club over a mutual agreement, which was struck for the player to depart at the end of the season on a free transfer. He will have a year left on his deal when he leaves but Liverpool will get no money for him.
Al Ittihad, who retained a keen interest, made a £150million bid in September 2023 but it was swiftly rejected. To see him leave for nothing three years later may seem a frustration but given what he has done for Liverpool in that time, the blow is softened.
At one point in early winter, it felt like he had played his last game for the club. Salah invited his family to the home win over Brighton on December 13, the fifth match in a row that Liverpool had started without him.
That run of team-sheets (one saw him not even in the squad) was unprecedented but a sign that the Salah era was coming to an end. Truthfully, fan vitriol towards Slot ramped up tenfold after their fallout, with many supporters siding with their long-serving talisman.
In December, Daily Mail Sport wrote how Liverpool had no interest in letting Salah go in January but the sub-text was that a summer exit was probably more likely than unlikely. Clubs could have tested the Reds’ resolve in the winter market but decided against it.
Saudi sides thought they would have to pay around £100m to get him in January, noting that is what they were willing to pay for Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes last summer. Al Hilal, Al Qadsiah and new club Neom posted an interest in Salah in late December.
His form has recovered slightly since then but it is fair to say that this has been his worst season in a Reds shirt and it does feel like the correct time to part ways, even when noting his most recent outing against Galatasaray was by far his best performance of the campaign.
Everyone could see Salah’s best days were slowly becoming a thing of the past, including those inside the corridors of power at Anfield, with talks over his future beginning before he jetted off to the Africa Cup of Nations in mid-December.
Liverpool have also sounded out the camps of potential replacements in recent weeks, it is understood. Given the uncertain futures of many key men, it is set to be a summer of change on and off the pitch.
It remains to be seen whether the club give boss Slot their long-term backing, while key defender Ibrahima Konate is out of contract in the summer with Real Madrid still pondering whether to pounce or not. Vice-captain Andy Robertson looks set to depart.
Several fringe players may also push to leave, such as Federico Chiesa, Joe Gomez and the out-of-favour Curtis Jones, while long-serving Alisson and Virgil van Dijk will soon go into their last contracted season with the club.
Salah’s exit is the most notable but could be the first of many in the next 18 months as a period of turbulence and uncertainty continues.
So what next?
For Salah, the Saudis are coming but they are not the only ones. MLS sides, including Egyptian-owned San Diego and Chicago Fire, have previously weighed up whether to make a marquee signing in the same year that America hosts a World Cup.
Given he will leave on a free transfer, European sides are suddenly back in the game to sign Salah. Previously, they would have perhaps been ruled out on financial grounds.
Saying that, Saudi Arabia still appears to be the most likely destination. Sources say clubs in the Gulf nation would at the very least match his wages of around £400,000 a week but make it tax free, which is a similar structure to what was discussed in 2023.
As the most famous sports star in the Arab world, Salah would be the face of just about everything over there and the money-spinning commercial opportunities would be endless. He is not in it for the money but regardless, the numbers would be eye-watering.
It has not been easy for Salah to make this decision to leave. His family love life in the North West and, as he outlined in his statement on Tuesday evening, his daughters will remain Liverpool fans for life.
A likeable chap, he has also made several friends for life here, from the ones you would expect to others like out-on-loan left back Kostas Tsimikas, former No 2 goalkeeper Adrian and even Milos Kerkez, who has spent many an evening relaxing on Salah’s sofa of late.
But there was a recognition on his part that it was perhaps time to move on, with the club building for the next generation with big-money investments in Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak. Though neither have set the world alight yet, the club believes they are the future.
What about Slot? At one point, Salah wanted to take down the head coach. His words at Elland Road demonstrated that. Though the two found a truce, it is hard to imagine they were suddenly best mates after the severity of the Egyptian’s comments.
It divided the dressing room and it should not be forgotten when analysing Liverpool’s terrible title defence – the breakdown in relations between the head coach and star player, no matter how much his form had slumped, was clearly important.
As for replacements, many names have been watched and agents have been contacted. Out of respect to teams still competing for various prizes, Liverpool will not advance their search until the season is over.
RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande is a name that has been floating around for months and the winger has recently attempted to change agencies.
Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola was offered to them last year, while fans like the idea of Bayern Munich superstar Michael Olise, though he would be far from cheap and maybe unattainable.
The club also held talks over signing Antoine Semenyo before he went to Manchester City.
Given Chiesa is likely to return to Italy after a frustrating two years at Liverpool, largely spent on the substitutes’ bench or in the physio room, the club might need two wide forwards. Cody Gakpo’s form has also dipped this season and Isak has never been fully fit.
In truth, no name one plucks out as a potential replacement would overly excite Reds fans. Again, it just brings into focus the monumental task Liverpool have on their hands in the next few months.
