Tony Cascarino has named the player he believes Liverpool should sign as a replacement for Mo Salah if the Egyptian were to leave Anfield.
The 31-year-old had been the subject of a £150m transfer offer from Saudi Arabia a few weeks ago, and while the Reds stuck by their ‘not-for-sale’ stance (The Guardian), there’s a strong possibility that clubs from the Middle East try their luck again in 2024.
In his column for The Times, the former Republic of Ireland striker claimed that the ideal successor to our current number 11 is a man who’s already operating in the Premier League and who’s been in fine form this season.
Cascarino wrote: “If Mohamed Salah ever leaves Liverpool, the club should go and buy Bryan Mbeumo as his replacement. At only 24, his best years are ahead of him and he has all the attributes to succeed at a club of Liverpool’s stature: he is versatile, durable and counterattacks with real ferocity.
“He has increased his goal output, with nine in the Premier League last season and six in only ten appearances this year, including the tap-in to an empty net that wrapped up Brentford’s 2-0 win away to Chelsea.”
As Cascarino referenced, Mbeumo has done a fine job in filling the goalscoring void for the Bees that Ivan Toney’s lengthy ban created, with four goal involvements in his last two games for Thomas Frank’s resurgent side (Transfermarkt).
There are plenty of factors which suggest that he could be an ideal player to target – reasonably experienced at 24 while yet to hit his peak, a direct right-winger replacement for Salah and a player who’s already familiar with the Premier League.
He could certainly do as an alternative to the 31-year-old, but replacing him outright is another matter, as it’d require an elite level operator to make up for the eventual exit of the Egyptian, whose goalscoring numbers are staggeringly consistent.
Liverpool would do well to think back to 2014, when they cashed in on another world-class forward in Luis Suarez but brought in replacements who were nowhere near the same quality, and the team’s fortunes nosedived as a result.
Mbeumo is a more than capable Premier League player, for sure, but that’s an altogether different level from taking on the unenviable task of replacing Salah when the latter ultimately departs Anfield.
More must-reads: