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Liverpool have an OBVIOUS Mo Salah transfer replacement who is PERFECT

Liverpool have an OBVIOUS Mo Salah transfer replacement who is PERFECT

Bence Bocsak 18 Nov 2024, 20:00 Last modified: 18 Nov 2024

Sooner or later Liverpool will have to replace Mohamed Salah.

Everything must ultimately come to an end. Jurgen Klopp’s departure from Liverpool last season was an acute reminder of that.

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Now there's a real possibility that some of Klopp's most iconic stars of the last decade could also depart for pastures new.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are all facing uncertain futures at Anfield having entered the final year of their current deals at the club.

It's entirely possible all three could still renew. However, the clock is ticking for Hughes and at this point Liverpool will undoubtedly be drawing up a shortlist of candidates who they will deem good enough to replace the trio.

In this three part series, Anfield Watch takes a look at who those replacements could be, beginning with Mohamed Salah.

Who could be on the shortlist to replace Mohamed Salah?

Over the last year or so Liverpool have been linked with several left-footed right-wingers who profile similarly to Salah.

Among these the standout candidates are probably Mohammed Kudus, Bryan Mbeumo, Arda Guler, Michael Olise, Takefusa Kubo and Johan Bakayoko.

Now one of those players on the list is Olise, who has just recently moved to Bayern Munich and therefore probably unlikely to move again next summer [if Salah is to leave at the end of the season).

So, who is the best possible candidate out of the remaining five players.

Kudus is a fantastic dribbler of the ball and a brilliant ball carrier. He also had a decent goal-scoring output at Ajax, but his output since moving to the Premier League has dropped considerably - although the caveat here is that he plays for West Ham - a team not exactly renowned for their offensive output.

West Ham United would ask for a considerable fortune from Liverpool - it's even been mooted to be around the £90m mark at some stage.

But Edwards has his ways, and he could probably get him for a decent price. The question then remains, is Kudus worth the risk. Could Slot make him into an effective goal-scorer - the same way he has done with Luis Diaz? It's entirely possible, but even for Diaz we need a bigger sample size too know whether this is jut a hot streak or a consistent improvement in his performance.

The same question marks apply for Takefusa Kubo. He's got a wand of a left foot and he loves to cut in from the right flank - which is very Salah trademark esque. But his effectiveness is nowhere near Salah's level. He's scored just 10 goals in his last 43 La Liga matches.

Elsewhere, Bakayoko comes with a lot of uncertainty. He is a brilliant talent but the leap from the Eredivisie to the Premier League is huge. Especially, when you are making that leap to replace one of the best players in England.

For that reason Bakayoko cannot be considered as a serious option, next summer anyway.

Arda Guler posted very good numbers for Real Madrid last season and he's got a huge future ahead of him. But his sample size is small and the burden on his shoulders to replace Salah may be too cumbersome. Not to mention Real Madrid won't let him go easily.

Why Bryan Mbeumo is the obvious Mo Salah replacement

So, that leaves Mbeumo. He's not exactly a flashy name. He's not quite got the electric speed of Kudus or the fancy footwork of Kubo and Bakayoko. Neither does his name come with the same allure as Guler.

But his numbers are brilliant.

He's scored 8 goals in 11 matches in the Premier League for Brentford this season and this is not a hot-streak, he consistently delivers when it comes to his goal-scoring output.

Mbeumo is simply a good finisher. He had a 17.64% goal conversion last season - which was higher than Salah’s 15.62%.

And he can still be very effective on the ball.

Out of Premier League attackers who played at least 1500 minutes last season and averaged 4 dribbles per 90 Mbeumo ranked in the top 10 for completion rate averaging 4.91 dribbles and completing 57.85%.

Being left-footed and having predominantly played his career on the right - albeit capable of playing through the middle as well - Mbeumo ticks a lot of boxes for Liverpool.

He’s been playing in a high-press system at Brentford, which could help him accommodate to life at Anfield quicker as well.

On top of that, he's not a player who would command a huge transfer fee from Liverpool, which thus makes him an attractive prospect for FSG's model as well.