{"id":289927,"date":"2023-09-25T09:34:23","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T09:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=289927"},"modified":"2023-09-25T09:34:23","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T09:34:23","slug":"mohamed-salahs-record-form-is-justifying-liverpools-150m-transfer-gamble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mohamed-salahs-record-form-is-justifying-liverpools-150m-transfer-gamble\/","title":{"rendered":"Mohamed Salah\u2019s record form is justifying Liverpool\u2019s \u00a3150m transfer gamble"},"content":{"rendered":"


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If, in his thirties, he shows few signs of slowing down, Salah may be changing. For a player who has often been accused of selfishness, he has long amassed impressive tallies of assists. Yet now he may be more creative than before. He shares the lead for the most assists in the top flight this season, but other statistics suggest he has a greater measure of superiority over his fellow suppliers.<\/p>\n

Salah\u2019s expected assists total of 4.03 is almost 50 per cent more than that of his closest challenger, Moussa Diaby. He has created eight big chances in the league this season; the next most is five. An average of 0.68 expected assists per 90 minutes is almost double his best over an entire season and if it is partly explained by a small sample size, and will logically decrease, it is almost three times last year\u2019s eventual return of 0.24.<\/p>\n

It may point to a shift in his role which reflects the evolution of the forward line. Salah is often the provider for Nunez; whereas, for much of Salah\u2019s Anfield career, the central figure in the forward line was the false nine Roberto Firmino, now it is a target man.<\/p>\n

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Salah\u2019s early-season form has fired Liverpool up the table <\/p>\n

That alteration is not without precedent in Liverpool history: Kenny Dalglish devoted more time in his thirties to making goals for Ian Rush. A \u00a3150m bid is, however, even for a club who managed to get \u00a3142m for Philippe Coutinho. Salah\u2019s seeming commitment to Liverpool has also been to \u2018Liverpool Reloaded\u2019, as Jurgen Klopp has billed his attempt to build a second great team.<\/p>\n

Coutinho financed the first, paying for Alisson and Virgil van Dijk. The Brazilian represented the greatest Moneyball deal for the sabermetrics enthusiasts in the boardroom and for Klopp, suddenly able to afford an elite defence to back up his potent attack.<\/p>\n

Five years on, it is remarkable that both Klopp and Salah projected an air of business as usual amid a record bid; FSG may yet remember it if Salah departs on a free transfer in 2025.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Klopp\u2019s Liverpool have made a strong start to the season <\/p>\n

Recommended<\/h3>\n


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For now, however, the gamble of declining a windfall \u2013 and when it was too late to spend it \u2013 is producing a footballing dividend. There may be a title challenge from Merseyside whereas, without Salah, there almost certainly would not have been. The early evidence is that Liverpool should book a return to the elite European competition; without him, that would feel in greater doubt but Champions League revenues would provide FSG with a different kind of compensation.<\/p>\n

Then there is the symbolic significance of an icon. Liverpool\u2019s self-esteem was not dented by the loss of Henderson and Fabinho; it would have been by selling Salah. And the admiring glances are not merely directed towards Merseyside from Saudi Arabia: Germany\u2019s recent interest in Klopp was rebuffed, with the manager evidently enjoying leading this rebooted, rejuvenated side, to seeing where they can go and what they can do. Perhaps some of his remaining ambitions can be realised at Anfield; that would have felt less possible without Salah. His departure could have been an admission of defeat, in effect the end of the Klopp golden age. Factor everything in and there looks a rationality to rejecting \u00a3150m.<\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If, in his thirties, he shows few signs of slowing down, Salah may be changing. 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