The future without Mohamed Salah: is there anyone who can fill the gaping hole?

A look at the future without Mohamed Salah - Is there anyone who can fill the gaping hole?

Article written on 16/09/2023 - most stats collected before that date.

It is inevitable, isn’t it? Mohamed Salah leaving Liverpool next summer looks like a foregone conclusion unless the Egyptian comes out and pledges his future to the club for the duration of his current contract - which is till the summer of 2025. 

Forget the player’s viewpoint for a second and let’s look at this situation from Liverpool’s glass. Salah will be 32 next June and isn’t getting any younger. Although still an exceptional route for goals and assists, he has shown signs of slowing down in terms of pace and sudden acceleration to whiz past defenders for example. This is no criticism of the player though as age catches up with the best.

The other side of the argument is that in the last 18-20 months, the Egyptian has moulded his game to a different style. The Egyptian is actively a playmaker now (albeit the assist numbers weren’t bad before too) and is trying to marry that with his goal-scoring exploits. He is not just a falsely stereotyped “selfish goal-scorer” anymore. Anyone labelling him that hasn’t watched him play properly.

Let’s do a comparative analysis of his performances in the last few seasons to extract importance of the aforementioned argument.

In spite of the fact that the team were underpar last season, Salah showed up and did very well. Barring the goal returns, assists and expected assists were at par with the unbelievable 2021/22 campaign. The shot and touches in opposition box metrics took a downturn. He has started this season with two goals and two assists in four games (until the first international break). Two (or three?) more assists were added during the Wolves game.