Liverpool’s Latest Transfer £60m Target Could Have a Major Impact on Mo Salah’s Future | OneFootball

Liverpool Linked with £60m Winger – What Does it Mean for Mo Salah?

Monday morning was met with a plethora of links as the name of the Japanese international, Takefusa Kubo, spread like wildfire through Liverpool related social media. As a talented right winger that has been linked with a move to Merseyside in the past, it immediately gave me hesitation in reading too much into the report that seemed to emanate predominantly from the Far East.

The former Real Madrid youngster is a left footed, right sided attacker, who stylistically matches up more than anyone to the Egyptian King, Mohamed Salah. Though there is surely some untapped potential within the game of the Real Sociedad flyer, there is a glaring lack of goals and assists within the recent campaign of the £60m rated man, having recorded just seven goals and five assists across 41 games.

The largely unconfirmed link will have many of the support assume that the new Liverpool CEO Michael Edwards, will soon be cashing in on his record breaking goals scorer, Salah, something that is a hard argument to play down. There of course those that are so desperate to see FSG spend money, the thought of signing anyone at all, seems appealing.

Photo: IMAGO

Could Kubo and Mohamed Salah Operate in The Same Side?

On multiple occasions and especially since the arrival of the reds new Head Coach, Arne Slot, I have envisioned his 32-year-old former Roma winger, Salah, in a second striker role behind wither Uruguay raging ball, Darwin Nunez, or the Portuguese poacher, Diogo Jota. Within an assumed 4-2-3-1 system of play, it would be tantalizing to imagine such a dangerous and inventive talent drafted into a more central position, instead of continually being pushed out wide and overloaded by the opposition.

Once upon a time, the greatest footballer of our generation, Lionel Messi, was brought from his wider position and into the middle of the pitch, to best utilize his majestic repertoire of abilities. I do not believe it is overstating the fact to mention these two legends in the same breath, neither would it be untoward to see the Egyptian skipper starting in that number 10 role. In such a scenario, there would absolutely be the need for a replacement right winger, one who could compete for a starting role alongside the England under-21 star, Harvey Elliott.

Given a lack of pace and at times an inconsistent output (when starting games), the former Fulham academy graduate may not be an assured a longtime starter, despite the unmatched desire to succeed. This is where the theory of Kubo and Mo in the same team has arisen. It is well known that the 35-cap Japan star has electric pace, matching the quickest wingmen in the world today. When the reds recruitment department were under the direction of Michael Edwards (before his initial resignation), the likes of Diogo Jota, Sadio Mané, and the legendary talisman himself, Mohamed Salah, all arrived as undervalued assets from their respective former clubs.

Regardless of whether the £60m link to the 22-year-old is reliable, I can see a way in which he is brought in to supplement the squad, instead of replacing someone within. The talent is undeniably there, if raw and slightly undeveloped. This aspect is something that could be moulded by the right coaching department, giving the chances to once again test the decision making of the famed analytics department.

Photo: IMAGO

In this interim period where the reds take the first step of their US, more concrete news will eventually start to drop and sooner or later the first signing of this new era will present itself. I will admit to being slightly underwhelmed by the thought of FSG spending so much on the 5ft 8inch wide man, however, I was once tentative about the signing of Sadio Mané, which could not have been proved more wrong.