Retaining Salah has to be Liverpool’s Top Priority this Summer
As the season draws towards its final couple of months, Liverpool’s Egyptian star has enjoyed a standout campaign. The Reds’ resolve to hang onto Mo Salah may be tested this summer, and it is imperative that they hang onto him.
With 35 goals this season, Salah has been the standout player of the Premier League campaign so far. While most expected the Egyptian to do reasonably well upon signing for Liverpool last summer, no one thought he would be this good.
His direct, quick style of play has meshed perfectly with Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, and he has spearheaded a Liverpool attack that has been a joy to watch. At his current pace, he is a shoo-in for the PFA Player of the Year award, and once he returns from his games with Egypt, he will have a Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City to look forward to.
Beyond that, he has been instrumental in guiding his country to the World Cup in Russia, their first since 1990. Salah has developed into a talisman for both club and country and at the age of 25, he is a player that a team can be built around.
But as is common with players of such calibre and excitement, heads have been turned, and the vultures are circling, looking for a chance to swoop.
The best of the best will search for the best
The Guardian reported earlier this week that Real Madrid, Barcelona and PSG are looking into signing Salah this summer. If Liverpool let the Egyptian leave, they can wave goodbye to all the progress they have made this season.
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Logic states that they will not let him go, but Liverpool do have a history of letting centre-pieces of their squad go when big-money bids come in. When Luis Suarez left Anfield for Barca, he was 27, and at the height of his powers.
He was also the best player in the Liverpool squad at the time, and his departure set the club back. No player at Liverpool has excited quite like the talismanic Uruguayan. Until Salah came along.
Going further back, the trend can be seen again when Liverpool sold Fernando Torres to Chelsea. Torres was also at his peak at the time, and this move broke up the fruitful partnership he had developed with Steven Gerrard.
What once happened cannot be repeated
One can only imagine what might have happened if Torres had been retained, and gotten the chance to play alongside Suarez. Perhaps that elusive Premier League title would have finally been captured.
If Liverpool let Salah go this summer, at any price, they will be setting themselves back a couple of years. They have developed a potent attack, and have picked up good signings in Virgil van Dijk and the incoming Naby Keita to address a couple of problem areas in the squad.
They are not perfect, but if they are serious about challenging Manchester City for the title next season, retaining Salah has to be the priority over the summer. The fortunes of the Egyptian forward are now intrinsically linked to those of the Anfield giants.