Any team in the world will struggle to replace mohamed salah, but liverpool is facing a similar challenge. At afcon, the egyptian legend will lead his country. Diogo jota will be instrumental in stepping up and scoring the crucial goals that liverpool needs, as liverpool.com has already stated. salah isn’t there to do so. However, the portugal forward is unlikely to play on the right side of the front three. He has done so in the past, but there are still many more suitable options for the position. Ben doak may have been looking for opportunities to get minutes while salah was away, but he has undergone surgery on an injury and is expected to be out for a long time. Kaide gordon could have some more opportunities, but it is unlikely to be a regular starter.
Liverpool has, in contrast, three very appealing senior options. “it would be very interesting to see who he places in that situation,” jamie carragher said on sky sports’ monday night football. harvey elliott is a possible candidate. I think he is more of a midfielder, he lacks the stamina to play in the front three, but he could do it. But also dominik szoboszlai, the son of a former soldier, is a hero. With alexis mac allister back, liverpool has a lot of midfield options, and szoboszlai has played in that role for his former club. “elliott is certainly an option in that wide berth,” he says. Salah has played there a few times already this season, when he has been rested or moved into the center, and would be a natural fit as a left-footer. He could be a threat in midfield, though. Szoboszlai has a hamstring injury, but the extent of which is not known. The hungarian will do a scan of the situation to see how severe it is, and klopp will likely give an update in friday’s pre-arsenal press conference.
If szoboszlai is due to miss a certain time, elliott would not only be higher up the pecking order to replace salah, but also be more important in midfield. In recent games, ryan gravenberch hasn’t quite gotten up to speed, and elliott could be a more viable option to join the team on the right of the midfield three, leaving curtis jones on the left. Klopp has several forward options, though not just any one of elliott’s three choices were chosen in the front three. Luis daz could switch over if jota, cody gakpo, and darwin nez were all better from the left and not really naturals to play off the right. The winger hasn’t played for liverpool in recent years, but he could easily play that role. A front three made up of nez-jota-daz will have a nice balance, with gakpo as the impact sub. Although no one will be able to play the role at the same level as salah, who is arguably the best right forward in the country, liverpool does have plenty of options to replace him while he is away. We might even get a glimpse of all three in elliott, szoboszlai, and daz.
