Liverpool gifted golden chance to repeat Mohamed Salah deal
Liverpool have a golden chance to repeat the Mohamed Salah deal. Will they go for it, though?
It's easy to forget that Mohamed Salah didn't arrive at Liverpool as a sure thing. The Egyptian had already failed in the Premier League once before and his stock wasn't exactly sky-high when the Reds bought him from AS Roma.
Of course, any doubts were quickly forgotten about, essentially from fixture no.1 as Salah started brilliantly and never really stopped scoring. He leaves the Reds as one of their greatest ever players and one of the top goalscorers English football has ever seen.
Again, though, this wasn't necessarily supposed to happen. Liverpool took a chance on Salah, believing his reputation was wrong and that they'd get more out of him than others had in the past.
His numbers for Roma were exceptional, it should be said, but his reputation didn't align with them. And that's all worth keeping in mind this summer.
Salah's exit means Liverpool need a new player for the right but the market is incredibly poor right now. It's actually quite shocking, and Yan Diomande's decision to pick Paris Saint-Germain has left Liverpool floundering a bit.
That's why we've pitched the idea of Matias Soule. The Argentine is available from Roma this summer and, like Salah, is a player whose numbers don't match his reputation.
There aren't many right wingers who brought the value that Soule did last season. Very few, in fact, and only Lamine Yamal, Maghnes Akliouche and Dango Ouattara did it with certainty under the age of 24.
Unlike the rest, though, Soule is actually available and for a really nice price. Roma are happy to sell this summer, with Gazzetta dello Sport suggesting a €40m bid would get Soule.
There isn't better value for money than that. Full stop. Soule is capable of playing across the line behind the striker, is still only 23 and no one seems to be looking at him.
It's all very Mo Salah, at least as an option whose potential appears to far exceed what everyone else realises. Soule could be on the brink of an explosion into the top level and while we can't imagine he'll come close to the heights of Salah, no one thought the Egyptian would reach those heights, either.