Italy and Juventus winger Federico Chiesa could be seen as Mohamed Salah’s successor at Liverpool, according to transfer guru Dean Jones.
It has become increasingly clear that Salah may not remain at Anfield for too much longer, with his current deal expiring in 2025 and interest from Saudi Arabia proving to be strong.
It could be that the Egyptian King’s head is turned by a move to the Saudi Pro League next summer, at which point Liverpool will be at last chance saloon when it comes to receiving good money for him.
Should that happen, it is essential that the Reds bring in a fantastic replacement for Salah, with none of the current attacking options at their best on the right-hand side, from Luis Diaz to Darwin Nunez.
Speaking to Give Me Sport, Jones claimed that Chiesa could be a target for Liverpool, should their brilliant No.11 move on to pastures new:
“He’s a brilliant player, the sort I can imagine Liverpool might have an eye on whenever Mohamed Salah leaves.”
Our thoughts on Chiesa being Salah’s successor at Liverpool…
Salah could potentially be one of the hardest players the Reds have ever had to replace, given the astonishing goalscoring feats he has produced since joining from Roma back in 2017.
He is now fifth in Liverpool’s all-time scoring charts with a tally of 188, and assuming he avoids serious injury, he should reach 200 before the end of this season.
In Chiesa, the Reds would be bringing in an explosive player capable of match-winning brilliance, as he showed during a triumphant Euro 2020 campaign with Italy when he scored twice in the competition and proved to be an attacking menace.
At 25, the Juventus ace is at a good age to come in and further improve, too, but he may never reach Salah’s absolute world-class level in terms of end product. In fairness, not many could, with the Egyptian superstar one of the best attacking players of his generation.
It could be argued that there are better options out there than Chiesa – players who have done it more consistently at the top level, for example – but he has the attributes to succeed under Jurgen Klopp, both on and off the ball.
