Liverpool ready to bid £100m for Salah-like star

Liverpool’s resurgence continued with a hard-fought win over Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend, but that won’t avoid the obvious problems that remain within Arne Slott’s squad.

The Premier League champions will not defend their title this season. Too wrong as the tactical imbalance continues and key personnel are starting to get injured.

Alexander Isak, 26, is unlikely to play a key role this season, if at all, after breaking his leg while scoring against Spurs. Mickey van de Ven clattered into him. Liverpool’s leaders have a bleak outlook and are expecting a long layoff.

Now, it hasn’t been clear until now, but will Liverpool need to bring in and sign a new forward during the January transfer window?

Players Liverpool are considering signing in January

At the top of Liverpool’s Christmas wish list is Bournemouth superstar Antoine Semenyo. His eight goals and three assists in his return to the Premier League have sparked some excitement over his deal, and he is available for £65 million in the first 10 days of the winter transfer window.

Unsurprisingly, competition for the Ghanaian international is fierce, and despite conflicting reports, transfer official Ben Jacobs believes “Manchester United and Manchester City are the leading candidates.”

Sporting director Richard Hughes understands the seriousness of Liverpool’s attacking crisis with Isak out indefinitely and Mohamed Salah away at AFCON.

A move could therefore be made for West Ham United captain Jarrod Bowen, with TEAMtalk revealing that Liverpool are willing to make a bid following their long-standing interest in the right-sided forward, but only if the player becomes available.

Indeed, Irons owner David Sullivan has said he will only allow him to leave if the offer exceeds £100m, and even that may not be enough. The Hammers are five points clear of safety in the Premier League and losing Bowen midway through the season would be a slap in the face for them.

Why Liverpool should sign Jarrod Bowen

Take your mind back to August 2023. Salah is being courted by suitors in the Saudi Professional League, with Liverpool set to reject an offer worth £150m for the Egyptian superstar.

Salah was and remains irreplaceable, but at the time Bowen had been named as a possible successor, and talkSPORT presenter Tony Cascarino said he had joined the club.salah club“This is due to his prolific and intelligent style in attacking from the right flank.

The 29-year-old’s extensive experience in the Premier League suggests he could offer a lot to Liverpool in the slot in the coming years, if indeed a move is planned.

He has only scored five goals and provided one assist in 17 league games this season, but the £150,000-a-week talent’s consistency and talismanic reputation at the London Stadium suggest he could add further stability and dynamism to Liverpool’s right-hand side, which would be needed if Salah were to leave, as was discussed after his tirade at Elland Road in early December.

Bowen is a star and a leader. This is exactly the kind of player Liverpool need to maintain a presence like Salah, and it remains to be seen whether he will be permanently moved away from the slot team in the coming weeks.

And it’s not like Bowen lacks athleticism or speed. In fact, according to SofaScore, he has averaged 4.6 duels and 1.5 dribbles per game in the Premier League this season. Semenyo averages 6.1 duels (although most of those are due to his aerial skills) and completes 1.6 dribbles per game.

Given that Semenyo is statistically one of Bowen’s closest rivals in this season’s Premier League, according to FBref data, it’s clear that Liverpool could hit the jackpot with this player, signing a player whose loyalty and talent in east London could quickly endear him to the Reds’ fan base.

After all, while Semenyo has won considerable praise for his clinical astuteness, Bowen ranks in the top 9% of players by position in Europe’s top five leagues for non-penalty goals per 90 over the past year, and is part of a rather lackluster West Ham squad in that regard.

Liverpool certainly won’t be willing to pay £100m for Bowen’s services, but a deal could be struck for a more reasonable fee, especially if the Three Lions star is keen on a move to his long-time destination on Merseyside and plays a role Semenyo might not be able to match even if he were to join Liverpool instead.