Micah Richards has suggested that one player at Liverpool is simply irreplaceable at the moment and is very much needed at Anfield.
There’s been an abundance of speculation over Mo Salah’s future on Merseyside as he enters the final eight months of his current £350,000-a-week contract, at the end of which he’ll have just turned 33.
The Egyptian certainly hasn’t let all the off-field discourse affect his performances on the pitch, with his late equaliser against Arsenal on Sunday taking him to eight goals in 13 matches this season.
Richards suggests Salah is irreplaceable at Liverpool
In the latest episode of The Rest is Football podcast, Richards was asked if Liverpool would be a ‘stronger’ team without Salah, in the same way that one listener claimed that Tottenham are better collectively since selling Harry Kane.
The pundit emphatically dismissed that question, saying: “No, no, no, no, no. Not a chance. Liverpool need Salah, and the reason why I say that is Salah can score even when he’s not playing well. That is the difference.
“So many times he’s unlocked the door just by being in the right position. A piece of skill, whether it be a set-piece, even his goal against Arsenal, the movement. I just don’t think anyone can replace him right now.”
Richards is right – Salah would be near-impossible to replace
The cold reality of football, and of life in general, is that no player or manager last forever and the time will eventually come that they’ll need to be replaced. It’s only been five months since Liverpool bade farewell to an icon in Jurgen Klopp, but thankfully Arne Slot has made that transition seamless so far.
However, Richards is absolutely correct in stating that, for all the quality within their ranks, the Reds would be nowhere near as strong as they are if they didn’t have Salah to call upon. Even when having a quiet game by his own standards against Arsenal, he still came up clutch to salvage a crucial point in the closing minutes.
Also, his incredible goalscoring consistency should never be dismissed. LFC have had some phenomenal forwards over the years, but only four have netted more goals for the club than the Egyptian’s 219, and on current form he’s well on track to surpass Billy Liddell’s 228 before the season ends (lfchistory.net).
Liverpool already have Federico Chiesa and Ben Doak as right-sided attacking options, but the former has yet to properly get his Reds career off the ground due to injuries, while the latter is on loan at Middlesbrough and still only a teenager, so he shouldn’t be burdened with the task of immediately replacing an Anfield legend.
We’ll have to say goodbye to Salah eventually, but hopefully that moment won’t be any time soon. For now, he’s simply too important to let go.