Replacing Mohamed Salah: Liverpool's Next Challenge
Steven Gerrard knows better than most what happens when a giant leaves Anfield. The void is never just about goals; it’s about aura, fear, inevitability. And in Mohamed Salah, Liverpool are staring at the prospect of losing all three in one hit.
Yet Gerrard, speaking on talkSPORT Breakfast, refused to buy into the idea that Liverpool would be left scrambling if their Egyptian talisman moves on.
Replacing Salah “like-for-like”? That’s the problem, he argued. There is no like-for-like.
“I think the concern, if you’re trying to replace Salah, in terms of like-for-like, I think there are very few out there that you can go and grab,” the former Liverpool captain said. “Olise would be one, I would say, but I don’t think he’d be available.”
That name – Michael Olise – has hovered over the conversation for months. A left-footed right-sided forward, creative, decisive, and still with room to grow. On paper, he ticks the boxes. On Bayern Munich’s books, he does not.
Gerrard’s point, though, stretched beyond one player. He leaned on history, on Liverpool’s habit of rebuilding their attack without simply cloning what they’ve lost.
“When we had to replace [Sadio] Mane, for example, we went for [Luis] Diaz, who’s slightly different, if you like,” he said. “Or when [Luis] Suarez has left, they’ve had different types of options to try and replace the players.”
The pattern is clear. Lose a star, reshape the front line. Don’t chase ghosts.
“Liverpool have got a fantastic record of replacing top players that have gone before,” Gerrard continued. “So I’ve got every confidence from a recruitment point of view that they’ll have different types of options, not necessarily a like-for-like.”
The one non-negotiable? End product.
“They have to try and replace some kind of goal involvement in terms of goals and assists, which is extremely difficult, because they’ve been incredible for Liverpool for many years.”
That’s the crux. You can change the profile, tweak the style, even alter the system. But you cannot walk away from Salah’s numbers without a plan.
If Olise is part of that plan, Bayern Munich are doing a convincing job of slamming the door.
Speculation around Liverpool’s interest has refused to die down, yet in Germany the message has been firm and public. Bayern, still smarting from a season that fell short of their own standards, are in no mood to weaken themselves for a fee.
Honorary president Uli Hoeness dismissed the idea of helping Liverpool out of their post-Salah dilemma.
“If that’s true… I don’t believe it is,” he said last month when asked about the rumours. “But Liverpool spent 500 million euros this year and are having a very bad season. So we won’t be contributing to them playing better next year.”
That line cut straight to the heart of Bayern’s stance. They see themselves as competitors on the European stage, not suppliers.
“We play this game for our fans,” Hoeness added. “We have 430,000 members, we have many millions of fans around the world, and it does them little good if we have 200 million euros in the bank and play worse football every Saturday because of it.”
The message: trophies first, balance sheet second.
Sporting director Max Eberl then stripped away any lingering hope of a release-clause twist.
“Michael has a contract with us until 2029, without a release clause – we’re relaxed,” he told Sport Bild.
Relaxed, maybe. Resolute, definitely.
So Liverpool stand at a familiar crossroads. A superstar may leave. A coveted replacement appears locked away. The recruitment team, praised by Gerrard and tested by eras of change, must once again find a way to turn a looming loss into the next great evolution of the Anfield attack.
If Salah really does move on, the question won’t be whether Liverpool can find another Mohamed Salah. They can’t. The question is who becomes the next name that, one day, someone else will be told is impossible to replace.
