The final days of the transfer window made it clear that Liverpool’s next priority will be to replace Mohamed Salah. Whether in January next year or in the summer, sooner or later the club has to resign itself to the fact that Salah will leave Anfield for pastures new.
He is already 31 years old, and with the Saudi Arabian market vying for his services, it is only a matter of time until Liverpool gets an offer that is impossible to refuse.
What that offer will look like remains to be seen. But it will almost be guaranteed to be enough for Liverpool to invest it back into the squad and continue Jürgen Klopp’s rebuild.
The trick to replacing Salah is that you don’t directly replace him at all. There is simply no one like him in world football, who can boast the same figures. The players that can come close would simply be out of Liverpool’s price range.
Instead the way Liverpool should look to replace Salah if through the ‘Moneyball’ tactic of spreading out Salah’s averages by bringing in multiple players who add up to the Egyptian’s return. That way Liverpool will also be able to rebuild the squad. Just like the club did when the Reds sold Philippe Coutinho, and brought in Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Alisson.
With that in mind, one of the first players on Liverpool’s transfer list should be Takefusa Kubo. The Japanese international has so far posted nowhere near the numbers Salah can boast at Liverpool, but he could do a solid job for the club on the right-wing.
A left-footed player who plays on the right for Real Sociedad, the way he is capable of cutting in from the right onto his left is already very similar to Salah.
This weekend, if you take his goals for Sociedad — one scored with his left from a counter-attacking move, and then another curved into the top left-corner with his left foot from the right — you see goals that Salah has been scoring for Liverpool ever since he arrived at Anfield.
At 22 years old, Kubo has long been regarded as a wonderkid, taking the Martin Ødegaard path and moving to Real Madrid at a very young age. But he hasn’t really fulfilled the hype which has surrounded him just yet.
Last season was the first proper campaign when he got close to it, with 18 goal contributions in all competitions. This season he is on course to better that, having already scored three goals and registered an assist in his first four games in La Liga.
Like we have seen with Ødegaard, just because a player didn’t make it at Real Madrid as a wonderkid, doesn’t mean he will never be good enough for the Premier League. Kubo has taken a similar route to the Norwegian midfielder, and now could use Real Sociedad to make his next step, just like Odegaard did.
Considering the financial situation of most La Liga clubs isn’t even comparable to the Premier League, Liverpool would be able to get him for a decent fee, even if Kubo explodes this season. That would allow the club to invest in other players as well and replace Salah effectively.
Kubo won’t be a like-for-like replacement for the Egyptian, but he should be able to taken on some of the burden of replacing Salah and offer a similar sort of outlet on the right-wing. Liverpool never returned for Ødegaard after watching Real Madrid get him initially, but another wonderkid who got away at the Bernabéu could still light up Anfield.
