Liverpool may have found the perfect Mohamed Salah replacement ready for the summer.
The Reds have been linked with a manner of different players as they prepare for the possible departure of Salah next year.
One of those forwards has been Bayern Munich’s Leroy Sane. And according to ESPN pundit Janusz Michalik, Sane to Liverpool would ‘make sense.’
“It would make sense, positionally, the way he plays, he’s familiar with the league obviously,” says the former USA international. “If Mo Salah were to go, in the current form then Leroy Sane would make sense.”
However, Michalik isn’t sure that Sane should be looking to uproot himself again, having found good form in Munich.
“The bigger question almost is for Leroy Sane, would he want that to happen?” queried the pundit. “He’s finally found an environment where he’s thriving. That wasn’t in the Premier League, wasn’t under Pep Guardiola.
“If you are him, even though it’s always tempting to play for a manager like Jurgen Klopp and play for Liverpool, I wonder if that would be a good move for him personally. When you finally find peace and when you’re finally developing and he seems happy to play football there.”
Liverpool linked with Sane move
To be quite honest, if Salah does leave, there perhaps couldn’t be a more perfect replacement than Sane.
As Michalik points out, he’s a top player, Premier League proven and in superb form. He’ll turn 28 in January, so he isn’t the youngest. But he’s already the finished product.
Without a clear outstanding candidate amongst the younger crop of players, it would perhaps be ideal for Liverpool to bring in a player in this age group.
That way, they could see Sane at his peak, before looking at who’s coming through in two or three years time.
Obviously, the major stumbling block to this is that the former Manchester City man is a key player at Bayern. Why would they want to sell someone who’s scored seven goals in 10 games this season?
Well, the simple answer here is that Sane’s contract will have just 18 months to run on it in January. If nothing can be agreed, Bayern might be under a little pressure in the summer. Earlier this week it’s been reported that the player himself is currently ‘weighing up his options.’
If that turns out to be the case, and Salah does depart, then interest could ramp up from the Reds. As Michalik says, it would make a whole lot of sense.
