Liverpool seem to have officially joined the list of big spenders despite maintaining a reputation of being shrewd “net spenders” for a while with their pursuit of a £90 million target who they want to replace Mohamed Salah with.
The Egyptian, as well as English defender Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dutch national football team captain Virgil Van Dijk, are all out of contract at the end of the season. All three men are wanted by the club to continue but the contract talks have stalled for reasons best known to the club.
The media have identified the problem in the contract talks as financial. It is believed that all three players demand wages that the Fenway Sports Group are not comfortable paying, which is what has led to talks being delayed up to this point. They understand, however, that if solutions are not found, these three, who are the core of Liverpool, are free to enter into pre-contract talks with other clubs that will allow them leave for free at the end of the summer.
The only way to avoid losing these valuable players is to either sell them in January or to give them new contracts in January. The former option is highly unlikely, which means that the latter is what the club hope to achieve.
They have, however, identified replacements for all three.
Should they fail to strike a deal with Alexander-Arnold, Amar Dedic (RB Salzburg), Vanderson (AS Monaco) or Jeremie Frimpong (Bayer 04 Leverkusen) could come to Anfield as replacements.
Meanwhile, any of Castello Lukeba (RB Leipzig), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Levi Colwill (Chelsea) or Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton) could replace their captain Van Dijk at the heart of the defence alongside Ibrahima Konaté.
None of these players would cost as much as Mohammed Kudus of West Ham United, the man touted to be Salah’s replacement, however.
According to reports, Kudus is also interested in the move and it could happen as early as January. The Ghana international is also well acquainted with John Heitinga, who is one of Arne Slot’s assistants, which will make the move easier if they choose to go for it.
Reports indicate that they are going to have to battle Arsenal for the attacking midfielder, who is versatile enough to play on either wing but is especially devastating from the right.
Kudus’ mind may be swayed by the fact that Arsenal are not looking to replace Bukayo Saka any time soon, which will make choosing Liverpool and being Salah’s understudy for at least a season, a much more attractive option for the Ghana international.
