Mohamed Salah has yet to sign a new contract for Liverpool and four players have been name-checked as replacements the club have looked at should they need to fill the hole left by the Egyptian.
The contract saga at Anfield continues to run parallel with the incredible debut season under Arne Slot, with three futures still very much in the air.
Salah is one of them and his agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, recently took to social media to highlight that Arne Slot is “excellent at his job,” a nod to the fact the Dutchman has made a convincing early impact.
It guarantees nothing but it pairs harmoniously with countless reports that Salah “really wants to stay” at Anfield, with compromise between all parties needed to strike a deal.
It will not stop Liverpool from assessing all their options, however, with the Mail‘s Ian Herbert name-checking four players Liverpool “have looked at” as possible replacements.
4 possible ‘replacements’
They are Brentford‘s Bryan Mbeumo, Bournemouth‘s Antoine Semenyo, Real Sociedad’s Takefusa Kubo and Borussia Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens – all but Gittens have been readily linked in the past.
They all tick the box as players heading into their prime with the experience to match, only 20-year-old Gittens has, understandably, yet to reach 100 first-team club appearances.
Bryan Mbeumo (25 years old) – Right winger
Antoine Semenyo (25) – Right winger/centre forward
Takefusa Kubo (23) – Right winger
Jamie Gittens (20) – Left winger/right winger
None have proven as prolific as Salah – understandably so – but they’re all plying their trade in one of Europe’s top five leagues.
Mbeumo is currently joint-fifth in the Premier League‘s goalscoring charts so far this season with 14 goals, nine behind Salah, while Semenyo is joint-19th with seven.
Kubo, meanwhile, has four in La Liga for Sociedad while Gittens has seven in a Bundesliga campaign that has yet to see him miss a match this season.
Four players with plenty of potential, but it is important to note that while Herbert’s piece is founded on the writer’s opinion, the tone of the article points to signs that Salah will stay.
Herbert writes that “Liverpool’s position is that they do want to retain him” but that they “are in a bind about how much to invest to commit to the extension of his contract.”
Mo Salah’s future:
It is rightly pointed out that while Newcastle‘s Alexander Isak would offer “greater certainty” than the abovementioned four players, the significant transfer fee and wage outlay still create unknowns compared to Salah.
With Liverpool’s hierarchy now settled after a few years of change, Herbert notes that at least two more years for Salah would allow the club to create a succession plan with his eventual replacement.
Salah will leave a significant hole in this side irrespective of when he leaves, but the club having their ducks in a row before he does is only one of many reasons to extend his contract.
