Having replaced Sadio Mané with Luis Díaz and Darwin Núñez and Roberto Firmino with Cody Gakpo, the biggest part of the rebuild in attack is yet to come — albeit it should still be some time away.
Liverpool was perhaps being a little generous with itself when it described the new deal for Mohamed Salah as ‘long-term’, but FSG had earned its self-congratulations. A negotiation that looked impossible was concluded successfully, with the Egyptian adding a further two years onto his current deal last summer. It has significantly reduced the urgency of the question of his successor.
But despite pushing the looming parting — due to come this summer — back to 2025, the need for an eventual replacement has not gone away. Even putting aside contractual matters, the inevitable passage of time will ultimately necessitate a search for a new right winger, one with the unenviable task of following Salah. The changing timescales have changed the nature of this search.
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Had the contract stalemate remained in place, Liverpool may well have been more serious contenders in the race for Raphinha last summer before he moved to Barcelona. A right-footed left-winger entering his prime, he would have been a very viable candidate if Salah only had one more year at Anfield. But he is already 26; even now he would be older than the typical FSG signing, and he would be coming up on 29 by the time of the Egyptian’s new slated departure.
FSG will now need to look at a younger bracket. There is nothing wrong with getting them in ahead of time, as they have done with the likes of Diogo Jota and Ibrahima Konaté: it may even be helpful for them to serve a kind of apprenticeship under Salah. But the players being targeted realistically can’t be any older than 23.
Looking at Salah’s top 10 most statistically similar players on FBref, only four fulfill this brief. One is Vinícius Júnior, who will clearly not be swapping Real Madrid for Liverpool any time soon. Then there’s Ferran Torres, formerly of Manchester City and now at Barcelona. It’s significantly more plausible, especially given the need to trim the Camp Nou wage bill.
Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is certainly an intriguing option, and the similarities to how Salah burst onto the scene in Serie A are irresistible. His two-footedness does mean he could theoretically take up the Egyptian’s role on the right as well. However, his sample size in Europe’s top five leagues remains small, and buying him for the right wing, in particular, would be little more than guesswork. That just leaves one man.
Moussa Diaby is in demand. Newcastle United has been linked with him ever since its takeover, and it was reported last summer by Fabrizio Romano for Caught Offside that Arsenal has been monitoring a potential transfer for the past two years — now three. Now, French outlet L’Equipe reports that Arsenal has made itself the frontrunner for a deal this summer (despite moves for Declan Rice and Kai Havertz, which will be anything but cheap), with Manchester United interested too.
The Bayer Leverkusen winger will not come cheap, but there is an acceptance that the 23-year-old will be allowed to leave if an appropriate bid is received. If FSG moves quickly, the numbers suggest that Liverpool may be able to secure its Salah successor. While signing a forward is not the priority at the current moment, it might be now or never.
Named as the second-most similar player to Salah, behind only Raheem Sterling, Diaby has plenty of qualities admired by Liverpool. Like Raphinha, he has the ideal profile: a left-footer, but one who has spent plenty of time out on the right. It’s where he played the majority of his minutes for Bayer Leverkusen last season, and Xabi Alonso has typically continued this trend since taking charge.
Beyond that, the young Frenchman is all about the output. A non-penalty goals tally that holds up well among attacking midfielders and wingers in Europe’s top five leagues still cannot quite match Salah, and has dipped over the last few months, but is nonetheless impressive, and would be expected to scale up as he matured at Liverpool. It’s much the same story with expected assists. The French forward ended last season with 25 goal contributions in all competitions and could improve that number in a better team.
Looking at the two profiles, it is hard to imagine how Liverpool could get a more well-suited Salah heir, presuming that Jürgen Klopp intends to go broadly like-for-like. But if FSG allows Diaby to go to Arsenal, he will not be attainable in two years’ time. If Liverpool wants him, it has to act fast.
Given his flexibility to play across the front line, this would be far from a wasted two years. He could learn from Salah and gradually relieve his game time burden, all while filling in wherever he is needed. It would be a juggling act for Klopp, who will already face a battle to keep the likes of Jota and Cody Gakpo happy, but it may be an opportunity too good for Liverpool to pass up.
Viable Salah replacements do not grow on trees. When one comes around, decisive action is needed. FSG was rightly pleased with its efforts to tie down the original and the best until 2025, but the work cannot stop there. It looks increasingly obvious that the next piece in the puzzle should be Diaby, meaning Liverpool will have to get a serious move on to beat the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United.
A version of this story was first published in July 2022.