‘Initial Approach’—Liverpool Finally Take First Steps to Sign Mohamed Salah Replacement
Andoni Iraola is under no illusion: Liverpool “definitely need to sign a winger” almost two months on from Mohamed Salah’s final game for the club. It’s now less than one month until the new Premier League season begins and the Anfield legend hasn’t been replaced.
But finding another Salah is an impossibility. A poor final season was the first time in nine years as a Liverpool player that he’d failed to score at least 20 goals in all competitions. He was a creator and goalscorer, which is a rare blend at his high level of output in both categories.
It makes a straight plug-and-play replacement unlikely.
Víctor Muñoz has already arrived from Osasuna to play on the left,either as competition for Cody Gakpo or as his replacement in the high-intensity pressing style demanded by Iraola.
Liverpool had been linked with Yan Diomande for the right, although the teenager is capable of playing on either flank. But a nine-figure price tag in the region of $114 million and a reported preference for Paris Saint-Germain has made pursuing the Ivorian extremely difficult.
PSG’s Bradley Barcola has been speculated about but is generally known as a left winger. Beyond Muñoz and Gakpo, Liverpool also have teenage breakout star Rio Ngumoha on that side of the pitch and risk suppressing him with too much competition.
Maghnes Akliouche appears to make more sense. The Monaco star is more naturally suited to the right and even has similarities to Salah in that he will cut inside onto his favored left foot. He is a target for PSG, which is immediately a significant endorsement, and stands to be a lot cheaper than someone like Diomande. Price estimates sit around $57 million (€50 million).
Sky Sports report Liverpool have made an “initial approach” for Akliouche in the form of an enquiry as to his availability this summer. There is no formal offer, beyond an attempt to gauge if Monaco will sell and for how much, but PSG have had “several” rejected already. The highest bid so far is believed to be worth $45.5 million (€40 million).
Liverpool’s New Tactics Will Patch Salah Hole
Directly replacing Mohamed Salah is impossible. / Liverpool FC/Getty Images
Even as a left-footed right winger, Akliouche is not Salah 2.0. His game is based more around creativity than goalscoring, which would make him more likely to assist a goal for someone like Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitiké or Florian Wirtz than find the net himself.
Last season in Ligue 1 and the Champions League, he tallied seven goals and 10 assists.
Like Muñoz, Akliouche would fit Iraola’s tactical system out of possession, as someone who also regularly wins the ball in the attacking third of the pitch. That is the antithesis to the later version of Salah, who had become more like Lionel Messi in that he didn’t often defend and increasingly only really came alive in offensive situations to conserve energy.
Knowing that Salah cannot be replaced, it suggests a shift in focus is coming, in tandem with the tactical philosophy preached by Iraola. With hard-working, creative wingers, the bulk of Liverpool’s goals could return to a central striker—evoking memories of Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler and Fernando Torres. Ekitiké was the team’s top scorer with 17 goals last season, which was more a product of diminished team output, but the last time a Liverpool center forward truly spearheaded the attack was Luis Suárez across 2012–13 and 2013–14.
With Isak fit again after a dismal debut campaign, the Swede should be well placed to benefit given his previous output with Newcastle United, so long as he stays healthy.
We could also see more goals from Wirtz. The German had gotten in the habit of scoring double-digit goals in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen, but he only scored five in the Premier League last season. There was fierce debate about whether he would co-exist with Salah, and the latter’s departure could actually help unleash the No. 10 in a way Liverpool haven’t seen yet.
