Klopp’s Liverpool star is playing like a £100m Salah heir

Liverpool are firing on all cylinders, and wrapping up the Premier League title is beginning to look like a formality after Arsenal’s depleted ranks have seen them drop away from the summit.

The Gunners will no doubt feel aggrieved over the incessant injury blows that have disrupted their campaign, but Liverpool have always looked like the best team in this league, right from the offing.

With just one loss all season, the top-flight table-toppers are thriving under Arne Slot, having kept more clean sheets (12) than any other team, taking control through their robust and dynamic midfield and indeed putting teams to the sword with a frightening frontline, headed by Mohamed Salah.

Salah is taking all the individual accolades and will have one eye on the Ballon d’Or ceremony later this year, but winning titles is the main thing for this incredible forward.

It’s unthinkable that he might be playing elsewhere after the summer.

Potential Salah replacements at Liverpool

Like Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, Salah is out of contract at the end of the season. The consensus is that the elder stars will pen new deals, as per David Ornstein, though Trent’s situation is more nebulous with Real Madrid desperate to reel him in.

Internally, Liverpool have some fitting Salah replacements from a positional standpoint. Federico Chiesa typically plays off the right, while Ben Doak has been making headway on loan with Middlesbrough in the Championship this season.

However, both are dwarfed when up against the 32-year-old’s giddy level.

Spanish sources have long claimed that Real Madrid’s Rodrygo is on the shortlist to replace the 32-year-old, while Brentford bagman Bryan Mbeumo has more recently been touted as a suitable like-for-like successor.

Liverpool were understood to have placed Jarrod Bowen at the top of the shopping list when Saudi Arabian suitors wanted to sign Salah for £150m in August 2023.

Indeed, the West Ham United skipper is valued in the £100m ballpark as West Ham view him in the same bracket as Declan Rice, who joined Arsenal for £105m in 2023.

Bowen’s a good player, but £100m is no small haul. In fact, FSG must kick themselves for selling their own version of the Three Lions star, who was cheap as chips and capable from a utility role before being sold by Jurgen Klopp.

Liverpool sold their own Jarrod Bowen

Those of a Liverpool persuasion are waiting with bated breath as Salah’s future remains undetermined – in four months, he will be a free agent – but it does feel like the £350k-per-week sensation will extend and see out his final prime years on Merseyside.

Forking out £100m for the 28-year-old Bowen doesn’t feel very FSG, and plans will instead be mapped out for a success plan while Salah still plies his art at the club, in all likelihood.

Given that Liverpool had their own lite version in Takumi Minamino, such intrigue could have been parked long ago, with the Japan international joining Liverpool from RB Salzburg in January 2020 after Klopp was impressed by his display against the Reds in the Champions League.

With a £7m release clause, it was a no-brainer, an astute piece of business to shore up the frontline and provide cover for Salah. Chiesa’s arrival last summer echoed this former package, and you have to wonder whether there was ever any need for the £150k-per-week Italian at all, for Minamino’s versatile qualities could have seen him play a longer-standing role.

In fairness, the 30-year-old detailed frustrations over his bit-part role, but he could have been sated with further opportunities, having proved his worth through crucial Carabao Cup and FA Cup in 2021/22, notching eight goal contributions in total as the Merseysiders won both titles.

Make no mistake, Minamino is not good enough to succeed or even rival Salah, who has recently been described as the “best player in the world” by Sky Sports’ Melissa Reddy.

However, he does have the kind of profile that Liverpool have enjoyed over recent years, not least because FSG signed him and won titles with him.

Indeed, Minamino’s inclination toward cutting inside and striking on goal has seen FBref record West Ham’s Bowen as one of his most statistically similar players, for the Three Lions star is regarded as a constant danger for defenders with crisp dribbling and passing and an innate striker’s instinct.

At Monaco, the Japan winger has enjoyed a nice resurgence, scoring 16 goals and adding 15 assists across 85 appearances, starting 67 of those fixtures. His balanced output offers further similarities to Bowen’s clinical yet creative game.

He hasn’t always achieved the most emphatic clinical success, but Bowen has proved himself to be one of the Premier League’s most able forwards, so often a beacon of hope for a West Ham team who have lifted a European title and enjoyed several seasons up against the biggest hitters but have struggled in the bottom half of the division both this season and last.

Liverpool’s frontline, so replete with quality, doesn’t require Bowen’s services, but Minamino’s retained presence could have saved money for FSG while providing a flexible threat to supplement the likes of Salah.

After all, Minamino has scored six goals and five assists from 32 matches for Monaco this season. For context, Darwin Nunez has identical numbers from 36 appearances across all competitions at Liverpool. Might Minamino be a more capable asset in Slot’s squad?

Liverpool sold him to Monaco for £15m in 2022, turning a tidy profit, so there can’t be too heavy grievances, but the fact remains he would have been a worthy asset who fit that Bowen-like profile Liverpool admire and avoided needless signings such as that of Chiesa.

Minamino was “undervalued” at Liverpool, so says journalist Josh Bunting, and his likeness to Bowen shows he could have been more of an asset.