The cold feet of Mohamed Salah is becoming a major headache for Liverpool. Is this drop in form a reaction to the team’s decline? Or is it something else?
Mohammed Salah has been the driving force behind Liverpool’s recent success. Winning everything there is to win in English football and becoming the club’s highest-paid player in history this summer.
Since joining Jurgen Klopp‘s team for €42 million from Italian club AS Roma in the 2017 summer transfer window. The Egyptian has contributed 173 goals and 69 assists in 283 games.
Mohamed Salah was supposed to hit the ground running for Liverpool this season. After receiving his request to be recognized as one of the world’s best-paid players. But, like the squad, something has just not clicked so far for the Egyptian.
Mohamed Salah’s woes
Mo Salah’s goalscoring average at Anfield had never dropped below 0.5 goals per 90 minutes before this season in the Premier League. Salah is now averaging only 0.2 goals per 90 minutes. In his previous three Premier League games, Salah has failed to record a shot on target. Despite this, the Egyptian has 17 goals and six assists in 29 games this season for a team that has battled for form all season.
Prior to Salah signing his contract extension this summer, the forward had claimed his wage demands were not exorbitant.
“I want to stay, but it’s not in my hands. It’s in their hands.”
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FSG, however, caved and decided to breach the club’s traditionally rigorous salary structure in order to make Salah the Reds’ highest-paid player at £350,000-plus per week.
Former Liverpool manager Souness, on the other hand, is concerned that, having received his lucrative new contract, the player may have just reduced his levels significantly at the start of the season.
Transfer Talk
According to CalcioMercaToWeb via Anfield Edition Liverpool might cash in on the Egyptian for as cheap as £70 million. According to the publication, manager Jurgen Klopp is concerned about his slump in form, while PSG are the favorite to grab the Egyptian International.
Liverpool have identified Juventus winger Federico Chiesa as a potential long-term successor for Mo Salah. Who has struggled to live up to his dazzling best this season following the departure of Sadio Mane?
Verdict
With Liverpool having had their worst-ever start to a league season under Klopp, expectations for the season may now be altered to those of a rebuilding project as the German attempts to establish the second squad of his Anfield reign.
Part of the rationale for the lowering of targets is the necessity to establish fresh combinations in both midfield and attack, many of which include Salah himself.
The Egypt international is attempting to establish rapport not just with midfielder Harvey Elliott on Liverpool’s right flank. But also, with big-money summer acquisition Darwin Nunez in the Reds’ new three-man frontline.
The probability of Mo Salah leaving is small. And the claim that Klopp is concerned about his deterioration is not something I would put too much stock in. A slump in form is nothing new for the Egyptian; experience has shown that it does not last long, and when form returns, the winger is clinical once again.
