Steven Gerrard knows what it means to carry Liverpool on your shoulders. He also knows how rare it is to find someone who can do it on the right wing.
"If you want to bring in a direct replacement for Salah, there are very few options out there," he told talkSPORT. Then he named one. "Olise would be one, I’d say."
And that’s where the fantasy collides with reality.
Bayern’s Untouchable Gem
Michael Olise is locked into Bayern until 2029. Not just contracted, but central. Important. Protected.
Inside the club, the speculation has almost become a running joke. "These rumours make everyone at the club smile," said Bayern supervisory board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in an interview with As, addressing the swirl of stories linking Olise with Liverpool, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
"He still has three years left on his contract – there’s nothing more to say on the matter. People come to the stadium for players like him," Rummenigge added, the kind of line that closes a conversation rather than opens a negotiation.
Bayern have no interest in selling. Not at any price. Not this summer.
Max Eberl, the club’s sporting director, underlined that stance in Sport Bild, making it clear that those at Säbener Straße are not entertaining "a single thought" about an Olise departure.
Liverpool’s €200m Dilemma
Reports suggest Liverpool are willing to go as high as 200 million euros to bring Olise to Anfield. That figure alone shows the scale of the task facing the club as they prepare for life after Mohamed Salah.
Olise has given Bayern every reason to dig in. Signed from Crystal Palace in 2024 for €53 million, the French international has exploded in Munich. This season alone, he has been directly involved in 44 goals: 16 scored himself, 28 laid on for others. Those are superstar numbers, the kind that make owners grip their assets tighter, not loosen their hold.
For Liverpool, that production is exactly what makes him so enticing. For Bayern, it’s exactly why he is non-negotiable.
Gerrard sees the problem clearly. "I don’t think he’d be available," he admitted, fully aware that this particular dream signing sits behind reinforced glass.
Replacing an Era, Not Just a Winger
Salah’s departure is not just a transfer story. It is the end of a dynasty on the right flank.
Since arriving in 2017, the Egyptian has been Liverpool’s constant source of cutting edge. Across 436 appearances, he has scored 255 goals. Titles, comebacks, nights that shook Anfield to its core – his fingerprints are on all of it.
At the end of March, Salah made it clear he will leave the reigning English champions at the end of the season, despite a contract that runs until 2027. The next step in his career remains open. Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia have been heavily linked, but for now the destination is a subplot. The main story is the void he leaves behind.
Liverpool are not just replacing a right winger. They are replacing an icon.
Beyond the One-for-One Dream
This is where the Olise chase, as romantic as it sounds, bumps into the hard edge of modern football economics. Bayern have a 24-year-old, in peak form, tied down long term and delivering elite output. Liverpool, even with 200 million euros on the table, are staring at a closed door.
Gerrard expects Liverpool to think wider than a single name.
"Liverpool’s scouting department will have several options in mind. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a one-for-one replacement," he said, backing the club’s recruitment team to find a solution even if the Olise route is blocked.
That might mean spreading Salah’s goals and assists across several players. It might mean a tactical tweak rather than a like-for-like star. What it almost certainly won’t mean, at least this summer, is prising Bayern’s new talisman out of Munich.
Liverpool have replaced legends before. The question now is not whether they will move, but who will be brave enough – and good enough – to step into the space Salah leaves behind.
