Liverpool fans will have been understandably jubilant at the news on Friday morning that Mo Salah has signed a new two-year contract at Anfield, but Paul Merson believes that the Egyptian could be about to face into an unfamiliar challenge on Merseyside.
The Reds’ number 11 has enjoyed a phenomenal season withthe Reds, scoring 32 goals and setting up another 22, and his overall goal tally of 243 for the club is the third-highest of all time.
While the 32-year-old has committed to LFC for another couple of years, his long-time teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold – who’s linked up with him on the right flank to devastating effect for so many campaigns – looks set to leave for Real Madrid in the coming months.
Merson: Salah will sorely miss Trent at Liverpool
Merson and the rest of the panel on Sky Sports‘ Gilette Soccer Saturday were discussing Salah’s contract extension, and the pundit believes that the Egypt winger will sorely miss the contribution from the England right-back.
The 57-year-old said: “If I was playing right wing, I know who I’d want playing at right-back: Trent Alexander-Arnold. I’d rather someone like him playing there than an out-and-out defender.
“At the end of the day, Salah doesn’t come back; that’s why he’s been successful. Slot has been clever. He’s gone ‘You just stay up there and you win us football matches’. You don’t see him really defending on the edge of his box and having to run the length of the pitch, so he will miss Trent, one million percent.
“Teams will double up on Salah now because they won’t have to worry about the right-back. The right-back won’t hurt them like Trent can, so that player who marks Trent will drop back and stop Salah and double up, and they’ll let that player have the ball.
“You can’t do that with Trent because he will absolutely destroy you, but whoever comes and plays there now, they’ll just double up. He’ll find it hard next season; it will be harder next season.”
Salah should continue to thrive even without Trent
Trent has been in Liverpool’s first team ever since Salah came to Liverpool in 2017, so it could take some getting used to that right-sided partnership almost certainly being discontinued from next season.
The duo have 19 joint goal participations at Anfield – the joint-fourth most of any player with the Egyptian – and our current vice-captain is the only non-forward among the top six of that list (Transfermarkt), so we can see where Merson is coming from.
However, even if the England international leaves, there’s a possibility that he could be replaced by another enterprising right-back such as Jeremie Frimpong, which’d help greatly with the transition to a new regular option in that area of the pitch.
Also, such is Salah’s brilliance in the final third that we’d still have every confidence in him continuing to produce high goalscoring for numbers, even if he doesn’t quite reach the incredible figures that he’s racked up this season.
Trent or no Trent, we firmly believe that the goals will flow freely once again from the Reds’ number 11 over the next couple of years!
