1 day ago
6
Liverpool does not have an especially egregious "one that got away" in the manner of some other big clubs.
At Chelsea, for example, two of the Premier League's biggest stars of the last decade slipped through the net, in the form of Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian left Stamford Bridge with just two goals to his name. He has gone on to score 250 for Liverpool.
But for the first time, all is not well at Anfield between Salah and Liverpool. The choppy waters of contract negotiations were successfully navigated last season, but the new campaign has brought fresh turmoil, with Arne Slot and his erstwhile star player now at loggerheads.
Such has been the speed of the breakdown, there is now a possibility that Salah has played his last game for the club. He half-suggested as much in his explosive post-Leeds interview, although the club has no plans to accommodate any kind of formal farewell against Brighton.
Even with AFCON looming, there is certainly still time for the player and the club to sit down and thrash out the issues. A departure is far from inevitable.
But regardless of what the immediate future holds, Liverpool will need to keep an ear to the ground for potential Salah replacements. During his recent exile from the side, Dominik Szoboszlai has been filling the role, a solution Slot has admitted is likely to be temporary.
And while no former Liverpool players have "done a Salah" in terms of a post-Anfield explosion, one pundit has suggested looking to a Melwood alum as a potential left-field replacement.
Ex-Everton and Fulham player Tomasz Radzinski has backed Harry Wilson for a sensational return. "Harry Wilson to Liverpool, why not?" asked Radzinski, speaking to ComeOn. "If he can perform this well for Fulham.
"Before Mohamed Salah became one of the greatest players in the Premier League, he had to move to a few other clubs as well. At Chelsea, he was not really rated, and he had to go to Italy only to come back to the Premier League to be exceptionally fantastic.
"Anything can happen. The sky is the limit."
It has been a good spell for Wilson, who has scored or assisted in four of his last six Premier League outings. But suggesting a return to Liverpool certainly feels like a major stretch.
That's no disrespect to Wilson whatsoever, but he very much feels like a player who has found his level. While his quality was always obvious, even at Anfield, he needed that slight step down to really be able to showcase it on a regular basis.
One thing he does have in common with Salah is an absolutely wicked left foot. He would certainly have the capacity to replicate that element of the Egyptian's game, cutting in and unleashing delightful curling efforts from the edge of the box.
Wilson is also set to be a free agent in the summer. Radzinski believes a new deal at Fulham is now "unlikely," which arguably makes the idea of a transfer a little more intriguing, especially given his homegrown status.
But at 28 already, any parallels to Salah when he first came to Liverpool are unconvincing. While Wilson is a success story, building a high-level career for himself after just missing the grade at Anfield, a fairytale ending would be forced.
English (US) ·