Anfield icon backs two stars to replace Mo Salah if he leaves Liverpool

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Danny Murphy accepts Liverpool will be ‘weaker’ if Mo Salah leaves for Saudi Arabia but backs Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota to make the step up for the Premier League giants. 

If reports coming out of Spain are to be believed, Liverpool have enquired about the availability of Barcelona duo Ansu Fati and Abde Ezalzouli with Al-Ittihad refusing to give up on their pursuit of a modern-day Premier League great. 

But should Mo Salah – like Fabinho and Jordan Henderson – find the remarkable funds on offer in Saudi Arabia too much to turn down, one former Anfield favourite believes that Jurgen Klopp could look a lot closer to home for players capable of filling a sizeable, Salah-shaped void. 

Liverpool star Mo Salah facing Saudi Arabia temptation

“(Liverpool will be) weaker (if Salah goes). What they won’t have is that reliability that he gives you, even when he’s playing badly. He does it year-in, year-out,” Murphy, an FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup winner under Gerard Houlier in 2001, tells talkSPORT (30 August, 11.40am). 

“He scores consistently, 25-plus (goals). He’san incredible footballer.

“What I think you would find is that, if Gakpo or Jota was to fill in on the right-hand side if Salah left, what you would find is their output would become greater. And actually there is an argument to be made that, like what Henderson did when (Steven) Gerrard left, the flower blooms more because they are allowed more game time and more space. A bigger platform, if you like.

“So, I think Liverpool would cope fine. But I don’t think, with the big moments that Salah gives you in the big games, Liverpool would be able to compete for the league (without him). I still think they would compete for the top four, but it would be more difficult.” 

Jota, despite concerns over his link-play and technical ability, remains a terrific source of goals, even while not a guaranteed starter under Klopp.

Gakpo, meanwhile, has impressed in fits and bursts since arriving in a £37 million deal from PSV Eindhoven but would benefit from a return to his favoured wide role after struggling to influence games from a deeper position of late.