Liverpool’s incredible season under Arne Slot is nearly at an end, with the Dutchman making the impossible task of taking the baton from Jurgen Klopp look easy.
Having lost just twice in the Premier League all season, Liverpool have won the title at a canter, moving 15 points ahead of Arsenal after thrashing Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday to seal the deal.
Slot is a tactical genius, an expert in eking every last ounce of quality out of his players. Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch and Curtis Jones are among the standouts in this regard.
However, he’s also found a way to take Mohamed Salah to the next level. The Egyptian forward is a shoo-in for the clean sweep of individual honours in English football after his extraordinary, talismanic campaign – and it’s not even his last on Merseyside, having penned a two-year extension last month.
Two more years of Mohamed Salah
Amid all the happy furore on the red half of Merseyside in recent days, Salah took some time to issue a statement on his social media platforms.
Chiefly commenting on Liverpool’s triumph, it’s curious that Salah should end his message by saying that his side’s efforts and ultimate success “applies to next season as well.”
He’s a natural-born winner, always talented and hungry but chiselled into world-class shape at Anfield, indeed the architect of Slot’s triumph, having posted 33 goals and 23 assists across all competitions this season.
He might be a matter of months away from his 33rd birthday, but Salah is very up at the head of football’s elite table, ranking among the top 1% of positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for goal contributions per 90 (1.21), as per FBref.
It’s remarkable that Liverpool were able to conquer the biggest prize without having invested, true, but also with the uncertainty around their superstars’ contracts.
Salah, like Virgil van Dijk, will be sticking around for a few more years, hungering toward more silverware and more individual accolades, both of which will surely come in one form or another.
1.
Alan Shearer
441
260
2.
Harry Kane
320
213
3.
Wayne Rooney
491
208
4.
Andy Cole
414
187
5.
Mohamed Salah
297
185
However, he’s not going to stay forever, and while fans have earned a wonderful reprieve from the eventual ending, FSG are bound to be hard at work as they identify a fitting successor, nice and prudent.
Well, news from elsewhere may be music to the ears of Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards, with one of the best forwards out there potentially set to leave his club.
It would be quite something if the Reds struck true with this one.
Liverpool could sign their best forward since Salah
With Federico Chiesa flattering to deceive across his debut campaign in Liverpool, there’s a good chance he will be sold or loaned out this summer, with AC Milan interested in bringing Salah’s understudy back to his homeland.
Liverpool need to sign someone who could not only jockey with Salah but succeed him in the coming years. If FSG wish to aim for the stars, they may fancy an opportunistic bid for Real Madrid’s Rodrygo – a player who FSG have expressed considerable interest in over the past few months – who has been frustrated by his role in the Los Blancos attacking hierarchy, competing alongside Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham.
That’s according to Spanish outlet Marca, who state that the 24-year-old will have no shortage of top European and Saudi-based suitors, with further Spanish sources claiming it would take a fee of €100m (about £87m) to convince Real to part ways.
Described as a “superstar” by his esteemed compatriot Neymar Jr., Rodrygo might be somewhat out of sorts but he’s still one of the best players in the world, ranking among the top 2% of positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for pass completion, as well as the top 14% for progressive carries per 90, as per FBref.
The Brazil star’s Champions League pedigree and influential performances in seasons gone by highlight his quality and indeed the reasoning behind launching a marquee move for the player.
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has even gone as far as to pronounce Rodrygo as being among “the best players in the world.”
While he’s only scored six times in La Liga this season, Rodrygo has missed just one big chance, as per Sofascore, averaging 1.6 key passes per game and winning 56% of his total duels.
Such roundedness bespeaks his level, but the ball-striking cleanness is what differentiates him. It’s no fluke, either, proven after a decent individual campaign in the Champions League that led to five goals before being knocked out by Arsenal, missing just two big chances.
Whether Slot would opt to unleash the right-footed Rodrygo on the right flank, as he has been forced to do with regularity over the past few years to accommodate Mbappe and Vinicius, or instead use him in a more natural berth is open to question, but you get the sense an unfettered role as Liverpool’s linchpin in the coming years could see Rodrygo finally maximise his potential.
After all, half of his goals this season have come from the left flank, despite only playing 12 of his 50 matches in the position.
Right winger
145
34
30
0.44
Centre-forward
82
22
8
0.37
Left winger
78
23
16
0.50
Attacking midfield
4
0
1
0.25
Though Liverpool would have to break the bank to get this one done, with Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Chiesa’s futures all uncertain, this might be one to keep a loose eye on, especially if his situation at the Santiago Bernabeu fails to improve.
The new Gravenberch: Liverpool ready bid for "one of the best in the world"
Liverpool are set to make a bid for a talent who could be Arne Slot’s next Ryan Gravenberch.
ByEthan LambMay 1, 2025
