Dominic Matteo believes that Liverpool will struggle to replace Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson this summer, as Arne Slot revealed his full-back contingency plan. Salah announced during the March international break that 2025/26 will be his last dance with Liverpool.
At 33, the revelation of his departure seemed only a matter of time, although finding someone to fill the void he will leave behind is a herculean task. The Egyptian has managed 256 goals and 122 assists in 438 appearances to date for the Reds, proving instrumental to their haul of two Premier League titles and Champions League glory in 2018/19.
Robertson, meanwhile, also announced that he will leave the club this summer, closing the curtains on a remarkable nine-year stint at Anfield where he shared the same success in terms of trophies as Salah. With two key players in need of replacing in the coming months, as well as issues to address elsewhere, Slot has his work cut out for him this summer.
And according to Matteo, the manager may be facing mission impossible in that regard. Speaking exclusively to the ECHO via BetSelect.co.uk, the 51-year-old said: "Somebody like [Gabriel] Gudmundsson at Leeds [could be a target], but not him, because he’ll be staying at Leeds.
"But that type, someone who can defend but can also get forward, because that’s the modern-day full-back now. In my day, if you got forward four or five times, you were doing well, because it was the midfielders that were dominant. Now it’s all about the full-backs.
"Salah is irreplaceable with the numbers he's got and what he's achieved, but they'll have to find someone. Looking at players in the Premier League now, there's no one who's been as good as Salah.
"Maybe someone who's younger might get to that level. When I look at clubs like Arsenal, you've got people like [Bukayo] Saka.
"I'm not saying Liverpool are going to get Saka, but they need someone like that who can play in that wide area and bring goals. There are so many players at Paris Saint-Germain that I'd like to get.
"Can we go and get [Ousmane] Dembele? That'd be all right."
Liverpool saw the full extent of Dembele's capabilities on Tuesday evening, when the PSG forward managed a double against them in the quarter-finals of the Champions League to oust them from the tournament in a 4-0 loss on aggregate. Whether the Ligue 1 titans will be willing to part ways with the Ballon d'Or winner, and whether the Reds would pay what would be a monumental asking price for the Frenchman remains to be seen.
In terms of Robertson, Slot revealed on Friday morning that Kostas Tsimikas will return to Merseyside this summer following a successful season-long loan with Roma. That will provide further depth for Liverpool for the fresh season in the wake of Robertson's exit.
The Dutchman said: "Last year we made quite a lot of signings and that's why we traded that much. In four windows had net spend of £150million.
"That says what kind of club we are. We know we are changing at least two players, but Kostas is coming back.
"First aim is to see how we react in position of Mo whether we want to replace with similar player or do that differently. At this moment of time there's not a chance of a lot of players leaving.
"Of course there's Ibou [Konate] contract situation. There might not be a need to train a lot if you don't need to bring a lot of players in."
It comes as Konate is also out of contract with the club this summer, meaning that Liverpool will have to bring in a new starting centre-half should they fail to reach an agreement on an extension. While the Reds brought in Giovanni Leoni last summer, the 19-year-old has not appeared for the team since suffering an ACL injury on his debut back in September.
And with Virgil van Dijk also entering the twilight years of his own career at 34, Liverpool would be wise to plan for the future this summer.
