Jermaine Pennant claims that if Mo Salah were to leave Liverpool, the Reds should target Leroy Sane due to his speed, goalscoring ability and prior Premier League experience.
The Egyptian’s contract expires at the end of this season, and while talks about a possible extension are ongoing, there’s been no concrete news about his status as a Red for the 2025/26 campaign.
Former Anfield winger Pennant told Safest Casino Sites (via Liverpool Echo): “There are wingers out there with the pace and goalscoring ability that you could replace Mohamed Salah with. I’d love to see Leroy Sane come in from Bayern Munich, after seeing what he did to Arsenal in the Champions League [in April].
“I haven’t seen many players do that to Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, and he does it every week in Germany. He knows the Premier League from his time at Manchester City, so for me he would be a great replacement for Salah if he leaves Liverpool.”
The 41-year-old added: “Would he put up the numbers that Salah does? I don’t think so, but then again, who would?”
The former Manchester City star has made only four appearances so far for Bayern this season, scoring one goal (which came in the Champions League).
Sane is a great winger but far from an ideal Salah replacement
We don’t doubt that the Germany international is a great player, and Liverpool fans will remember his fine performances in the Premier League. He scored four goals in eight appearances against the Reds, the joint-most of any team he’s faced in his career (Transfermarkt)
However, while winger has had some success with Bayern since his £41m move from Man City four years ago, he’d be far from an ideal replacement for our talisman.
Overall, Sane has scored 29 goals and assisted 35 more in 125 Bundesliga appearances for the Munich giants (Transfermarkt). While these numbers are respectable, we must remember that we’re talking about him replacing Salah, a goalscoring machine who racked up 32 Premier League goals in his debut season at Anfield alone!
The 28-year-old hasn’t netted more than eight goals in a single campaign in the German top flight, while in the Premier League, his best haul is 10 goals for the Cityzens in 2017/18 and 2018/19 (Transfermarkt), so Pennant championing his ‘goalscoring ability’ is a little over the top.
In terms of pace, he clocked a maximum sprint speed of 35.82 km/hr last season – impressive, but it didn’t crack the top 10. However, it’s still one of his main attributes, and he broke the all-time Premier League record for fastest sprint back in 2017 with a 35.48 km/hr run (which has since been exceeded).
His age may also be a concern. He will be 29 by the start of next season, while Salah will be 33. That might seem like a significant gap, but it’s not all that massive when you consider that the Liverpool forward is still by far the better player and is showing no signs of slowing down.
Perhaps the biggest motivating factor for a potential transfer would be that Sane is a free agent at the end of this season. Should he not renew his contract, a move could be worth exploring provided his wages wouldn’t be as extravagant as the £322k per week that he currently takes home at Bayern (Capology).
However, as far it comes to locking down a starting berth for Liverpool and replacing Salah’s output, that would be a farfetched expectation to have for the ex-Man City dynamo.