The campaign approaches its final stage, but for Liverpool, it’s all done and dusted. In the best way. Arne Slot has won the Premier League in his first season as the Anfield head coach.
Who saw this coming? Certainly not BBC Sport’s experts, for none of the 30 pundits listed Liverpool as champions in their pre-season predictions.
We should cut the analysts some slack; after all, the Reds had just lost Jurgen Klopp, and recent history tells the tale of a decline when iconic managers depart after so many successful years.
The odds were stacked against Slot’s Liverpool, but they have prevailed to clinch the club’s 20th top-flight title. So many players stepped up, but none more so than Mohamed Salah, who fulfilled a promise in putting the Merseysiders back on their perch.
And he’s ready to do it all over again.
Why Mo Salah can go again next season
Salah is surely a shoo-in for the Premier League’s Player of the Season award. Not only has he clinched the league title, but he’s done so with an absurd haul of 28 goals and 18 assists across 36 matches, with two fixtures still to go.
1 – Mohamed Salah
28
18
46
2 – Alexander Isak
23
6
29
3 – Bryan Mbeumo
18
8
26
4 – Erling Haaland
21
3
24
5 – Cole Palmer
15
9
24
Salah needs just two goal involvements from his final two games to break Alan Shearer and Andy Cole’s long-held shared record for contributions in a single Premier League season (47), and those hauls were from a 42-match campaign.
But wait, he’s 33 this summer. Surely now is the time for the Egyptian king to regress, to accept the call of Father Time and take a seat on the back bench.
This is unlikely. Salah’s as hungry as ever, if not more so, with time against him. Slot has tweaked his talisman’s game to provide him with greater freedom in the final third, fewer duties from a defensive standpoint.
Salah is an elite athlete and his tactical intelligence has never been finer tuned. As per Sofascore, he’s only averaging 0.6 tackles per game this season but has seen an upswing in dribble and duel metrics. And, of course, he’s never been more prolific.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has been spoken about ad nauseam this season, and at least now there’s clarity regarding his future. However, Liverpool do need to source a new creative lifeforce, and if Jeremie Frimpong is the man for the job at right-back, it won’t be him.
That’s okay, Trent is a unique kind of playmaker. But Slot still wants someone to adopt the new playmaking mantle, and FSG appear willing to grant the coach an incredible new star.
Liverpool in contact with marquee signing
You’ll likely be somewhat aware of the incipient Florian Wirtz saga, with the German playmaker looking to leave Bayer Leverkusen this summer.
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Bayern Munich had been thought to hold the lead in the race but The Athletic have since reported that Manchester City and Liverpool have made contact with the 22-year-old’s representatives.
One of the most coveted talents in world football, Wirtz’s signing would send shockwaves across English and European football, should he alight at either end of the M62.
It goes without saying that he’d cost a pretty penny, £126m, in fact, according to reports.
Why Florian Wirtz is Salah's dream signing
Wirtz is only young, but after being crowned last season’s Bundesliga Player of the Year as an invincible champion, it’s fair to say he’s “probably the best midfielder in the world”, and former Leverkusen star Patrick Helmes has said exactly that.
Wirtz has plundered his way through Germany’s finest competitors in recent years, having scored 57 goals and supplied 65 assists across 190 senior appearances for Leverkusen since graduating from their youth ranks.
This season alone, he’s created 21 big chances across the Bundesliga and Champions League, as per Sofascore, having scored six goals across nine fixtures on the continent to underscore his ability to do it on the biggest stage.
This talented playmaker would replace Trent and relocalise Liverpool’s creative focus. Given that he’d be in close proximity to the inswinging Salah, he could be the perfect signing to keep the leading forward firing across the final two years of his Liverpool career.
Attacking midfield
169
48
57
Left winger
21
4
5
Right winger
17
8
5
Centre-forward
15
7
7
Central midfield
5
0
3
Wirtz’s dynamism is a wonderful thing, but he’s typically found in a roaming central role, with license to thrill.
Salah would be sure to benefit from this presence, for the Leverkusen man ranks among the top 8% of positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for assists, the top 7% for shot-creating actions, the top 6% for progressive passes and the top 2% for successful take-ons per 90, as per FBref.
Contrast Wirtz’s creativity with that of Dominik Szoboszlai, for example, and you begin to see why Liverpool are so invested. The Hungarian, tireless and tenacious as they come, has provided only 14 assists across 90 games as a Red.
He’s also made just 12 big chances across 34 Premier League fixtures this season, and with Alexander-Arnold heading out the door, the addition of a creative player of Wirtz’s ilk is only magnified.
Whether Liverpool prevail in this race will remain to be seen for the immediate future, but the fact FSG are pushing is a good thing, especially when considering the importance of keeping Salah performing at the top of his game.
Stagnancy begets decline, but Liverpool are ready to throw the kitchen sink at exciting signings for Slot’s title-winning squad.
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ByEthan Lamb