In an ideal world, Mohamed Salah stays at Liverpool for the rest of his career. However, given the way Liverpool has conducted business under Jürgen Klopp — and Saudi Arabia’s ambitious venture into football — that possibility seems unlikely.
There is a strong likelihood that with Salah set to turn 32 years old next year, entering the last year of his contract, Liverpool will be tempted to sell the Egyptian if a lucrative offers comes in from Saudi Arabia. But if Salah does leave, what then? How will Klopp replace someone as good as the Egyptian?
It’s a difficult question to answer. Ever since Salah has arrived at the club, Liverpool’s system has sort of centered around him. He has been pretty much ever-present on the right-wing, with his quality matched only by his availability record.
But before Salah, Klopp did use a different kind of system, and it is possible that in order to cope with his departure Liverpool could tweak the formation once again. Since signing someone who is like-for-like in the modern game seems impossible right now, Klopp could turn the right-wing role into a different kind of position.
In Dominik Szoboszlai he has a player who has played as a right-sided midfielder in the past, and who could be capable of reviving the David Beckham role in the modern game. That’s something that has often been attributed to Trent Alexander-Arnold, who plays with a similar style to Beckham. However, with the full-back in recent times inverting into the middle to create, there is space for another creator on the right, and there is no one more suited to that position than Szoboszlai.
The Hungarian is very much a modern-day Beckham style player. He is capable of delivering crosses with pin-point accuracy and is a threat from set-pieces. Even one of his former managers in Jesse Marsch likened him to Beckham.
“He is the modern-day David Beckham.” Marsch told The Telegraph. “When the ball is on his right foot he can put it anywhere he wants. The precision and the pace he can put on the ball is ridiculous. And I say ‘modern day’ because he is more mobile and more dynamic.”
At Liverpool in the middle Szoboszlai hasn’t really shown off that side of his game yet. He’s stood-out more prominently for his work-rate. However, if he is shifted to the right, Klopp could definitely harness the Hungarian’s unique quality and give Liverpool a new dimension.
Recently, Liverpool has brought in taller and more physically strong players in attack. In comparison to the likes of Roberto Firmino (1.81 meters) and Sadio Mané (1.74 meters) Liverpool now has Cody Gakpo (1.93 meters) and Darwin Núñez (1.87 meters) which definitely gives someone like Szoboszlai better targets to aim at.
Crossing has often been regarded as a ‘dying art’ in football. But Klopp’s Liverpool has been disproving that for years with the way someone like Alexander-Arnold has been able to breakdown defenses purely due to his deliveries.
Szoboszlai, who has stood out prominently because of his deliveries too, is another shining banner that the art of crossing is not dead yet. And what once made Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United one of the best teams in the Premier League, can still deliver a successful template for Liverpool as well.
When Salah leaves, Liverpool will have to adapt. Klopp won’t be able to repeat the same trick again. He’ll have to play to everyone’s advantage instead and based on who he has at his disposal at the moment, this could very well see Szoboszlai being asked to play the Beckham role and shifting out to the right-wing.
