Liverpool will lose their superstar at the end of the 2025/26 season after Mohamed Salah confirmed that this will be his final campaign at Anfield.
After nine seasons with the Reds, the Egypt international has revealed that he will leave the club on a free transfer in the summer, a year earlier than his contract was due to run for.
The left-footed star will move on from Merseyside as a bona fide legend for Liverpool after winning two Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy during his time at the club.
To date, Salah has scored 255 goals and provided 122 assists in 436 appearances in all competitions for the Reds, providing an almost constant threat at the top end of the pitch.
The task facing Richard Hughes and the recruitment team this summer is finding a way to replace his output with a new signing, or several new signings, to bolster the attack for next season.
Liverpool have to decide about whether they want to go all in on an expensive ready-made superstar to come in and almost guarantee replacing Salah’s output in front of goal, or if they want to sign several up-and-coming players with the potential to become superstars.
The Reds are now being linked with a potential deal for a player who would fall into the former category, but it would be an incredibly pricey move to complete.
According to TEAMtalk, Liverpool are one of the teams that could sign Real Madrid superstar Vinicius Junior in the upcoming summer transfer window.
The report claims that intermediaries have made contact with the Reds, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester United over a potential deal for the Brazil international.
It adds that he is expected to earn wages in excess of £500k-per-week in his next contract, whilst his current deal is due to expire at the end of next season.
TEAMtalk reveals that Real Madrid have made an offer to the star forward and are not willing to improve it, which means that Vinicius has a big decision to make in the coming weeks.
The report states that Los Blancos will look to cash in on him this summer if he opts against putting pen to paper on an extension, which would open the door for Liverpool to make a move for the winger. Speaking of cash, previous reports from last year suggested it could take £130m to prise him away from the Bernabeu.
Why Vinicius would be the perfect replacement for Salah
Whilst Vinicius does not play on the right wing, the Brazilian star has the final third quality to be the perfect replacement for Salah as the focal point of Liverpool’s attack moving forward.
The left winger’s form in the Champions League for Real Madrid in recent seasons shows that he is like Salah in the prime of his career, given the outstanding rate at which he can score and assist goals at the very top level.
To date, Salah has scored 50 goals and provided 21 assists in 97 appearances in the Champions League, averaging a goal or an assist every 1.37 games.
Vinicius, meanwhile, has scored 34 goals and registered 32 assists in 80 matches in the competition, which is an average of a goal or an assist every 1.21 games.
Salah delivered ten goals and five assists in his prime, in the 2017/18 campaign, and the Real Madrid star is only three goal contributions behind that tally, with games left to play, on five goals and seven assists in the current season.
|
25/26 Champions League |
Vinicius Junior |
Salah |
|---|---|---|
|
Appearances |
12 |
9 |
|
Goals |
5 |
3 |
|
Big chances created |
6 |
8 |
|
Assists |
4 |
2 |
|
Dribbles completed per game |
1.8 |
1.2 |
The Brazil international, who was described as a “superstar” by Luka Modric, has outperformed the Liverpool forward in this season’s edition of the competition.
On top of being as good, if not better, than Salah in his prime in the Champions League, Vinicius has also been on fire in domestic football in LaLiga for Real, scoring 22 goals in the division since the start of last season.
The 25-year-old talent has scored 21 goals or more in three of the last four seasons, needing three more this term to make it four in a row, and would arrive at Anfield as a bona fide megastar for Arne Slot.
With Salah leaving, Vinicius would be the perfect signing to take over as the superstar of the team because he has proven, domestically and on the European stage, that he can be relied on to carry the weight of expectation in front of goal.
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However, the £500k-per-week wages and the possibility that he signs an extension in Madrid mean that any deal is far from straightforward for the Reds.