Liverpool main race to signal £76m “jewel”

Mohamed Salah. Three-time PFA Participant of the Yr.

His colleagues recognise his greatness, and the Egyptian ahead is hungry so as to add extra depth to his Liverpool legacy this season.

Methods to obtain such a factor? Properly, after his extraordinary 2024/25 marketing campaign, spearheading Arne Slot‘s title cost and clinching 34 targets and 23 assists throughout all competitions, Salah has immortalised himself as one of many Premier League‘s greats, now knocking on the door of the highest three within the all-time scoring charts.

Having turned 33 in June, the ahead is coming into the autumn section of his profession; he is misplaced a yard, and no mistake.

Nonetheless, Salah’s intelligence and technical potential permit him to take care of an elite stage, and he confirmed as such on the division’s opening night time.

However, FSG is perhaps sensible to signal one other ahead earlier than the closure of the market, including an attacking accomplice with whom the £400k-per-week star can mix with.

Liverpool concentrating on one other ahead

Liverpool’s vested curiosity in Alexander Isak is not any secret. To condense the sprawling, convoluted saga into one thing packageable: Isak needs Liverpool, Liverpool need Isak, Newcastle have doubled down on their detrimental response.

The Sweden striker, 25, is refusing to reintegrate into Eddie Howe’s facet and feels guarantees have been damaged, however the Magpies have didn’t signal a centre-forward this summer season, and so their stance is comprehensible, if regrettable for these of a Reds persuasion.

Liverpool have already seen an preliminary supply value £110m knocked again in August, and won’t advance once more until given encouragement from Tyneside.

With that in thoughts, sporting director Richard Hughes would possibly wish to flip to a different earmarked possibility, lest Liverpool discover themselves brief over the approaching 12 months.

In response to Brazilian journalist Jorge Nicola, as translated by Sport Witness, Liverpool are alongside Manchester Metropolis because the frontrunners within the race for Actual Madrid star Rodrygo.

Man Metropolis are attempting to promote Savinho to Tottenham Hotspur, and that will open the door to Rodrygo’s arrival on the Etihad Stadium. However Liverpool have a long-standing curiosity of their very own, they usually want depth up prime after promoting Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez.

The 24-year-old is expendable, however Los Blancos will not let him go on a budget, valuing their participant at €90m (about £76m).

Why Rodrygo would profit Mo Salah

Rodrygo sat on the bench as Actual Madrid slenderly defeated Mallorca of their La Liga opener on Tuesday night. He was unused because the Xabi Alonso period obtained up and working on Spanish soil.

The 2024/25 marketing campaign was certainly one of toil and frustration for the Brazilian ahead, who blanked throughout his remaining 17 league matches and, actually, scored simply the six targets in La Liga all 12 months.

Knowledge through Sofascore reveals he missed just one large likelihood although, and when contemplating he scarcely performed out on his favoured left flank, it is clear that Rodrygo might show a jackpot signing at Liverpool, combining with Salah on the wings and teeing up Hugo Ekitike within the centre.

Hailed as “the jewel within the crown” at Actual Madrid by one analyst, Rodrygo is a dynamic and gifted participant. To wit, he is a lethal finisher on his day, but additionally a crisp passer with an underlying creativity that has proved efficient throughout a variety of attacking positions. His high quality lends itself to multi-positionality.

However Salah is not going anyplace, not but, and so Rodrygo would hope to play with regularity on the left, having scored six targets and provided six assists from solely 12 video games within the position final 12 months.

That potent output (from Rodrygo) would solely advance in a large partnership with a participant like Salah, who created extra large possibilities (27) than some other participant within the Premier League final season.

Famend as one of many deadliest finishers of his era, Salah has lengthy borne an all-encompassing talent set, however Father Time has hit his tempo and athleticism, and he has now heaped much more of an emphasis on his playmaking.

How typically have we seen Salah take a deft contact, reduce, gear up, whip in a fierce supply? Now that Trent Alexander-Arnold plies his commerce for Actual Madrid, that job will probably be heightened, particularly with a striker of actual high quality added to the fold in Ekitike.

Rodrygo’s tempo and off-the-ball motion would see him thrive alongside Salah in such a scenario.

As per FBref, the versatile ahead ranks among the many prime 2% of attacking midfielders and wingers throughout Europe for cross completion, the highest 14% for progressive carries and the highest 20% foer shot-creating actions per 90, and that is whereas enjoying the lion’s share of his soccer on the precise, his unfavoured but prinicipal space of assault.

Shot-creating actions are items of play that result in a shot. These embody moments resembling a cross, take-on or foul being drawn.

Salah’s want for a second Premier League title got here true final season. He made it so. Now, it would not be unfair to posit that one other Champions League title can be the jewel in his crown in 2026.

With Rodrygo, a grasp on Europe’s elite stage, alongside him, that imaginative and prescient would possibly simply be realised.

Whether or not Liverpool handle to drag this one off stays to be seen – Isak is definitely nonetheless the highest precedence for the Anfield facet – but when that door is slammed shut and locked within the coming days, do not be shocked if Liverpool increase their intrigue in Rodrygo, giving Salah a brand new dance accomplice for his remaining few reveals in a Pink shirt.