Two wildcard Mo Salah alternatives Liverpool could target to sign ‘short term replacement’

Liverpool were already missing star forward Mohamed Salah due to the Africa Cup of Nations but are set to be without him for even longer after he suffered a nasty injury.

Salah has flown off to the Ivory Coast to represent Egypt in AFCON but his tournament was cut short after he was forced off the field in a group stage draw with Ghana. Scans revealed the 31-year-old has suffered a hamstring tear which could rule him out of action for up to a month.

Salah already has 18 goals this season and the Merseyside outfit will miss him while he is sidelined. Former Liverpool midfielder Paul Ince believes it’s a ‘massive blow’.

“Mohamed Salah’s injury will be a massive blow for Liverpool,” Ince told luckyblock.com. “I have never understood why AFCON is played in the middle of the season – it doesn’t make sense.

“We’ve come into this season off the back of a World Cup, then straight into another heavy campaign and then they’ve put AFCON right in the middle of it.

“As a manager, all you’re hoping is that any of your players who go to AFCON just come back fit and healthy. To lose Salah after two games of the tournament will be a real blow.

They’re five points clear at the top of the table and in that situation you need your talisman firing on all cylinders.

“They still wouldn’t have had him for another couple of weeks anyone but now it is going to take him another month to get back to full fitness. He’s naturally fit anyway and he’s never injured, so it came as a bit of a shock.

“With Salah out, Liverpool might want to look at bringing in a short-term replacement for him.”

Potential replacements

Fortunately for Liverpool, the January transfer window is currently open so there is a chance to sign attacking reinforcements to fill the void left by Salah if they wish.

The new year can be a difficult market to negotiate in, though, given clubs are less keen on allowing their best players to leave and the price hikes up as a result. Yet, there are two wild card options Liverpool could consider signing.

According to Macro Football’s Player Similarity Generator, there are five players whose stats most closely align to Salah this season. Liverpool’s own Diogo Dalot is one while the unattainable PSG star Kylian Mbappe and Joao Felix of Barcelona are the others.

However, there are two others Liverpool could certainly convince to join. Both play in the Bundesliga, Borussia Monchengladbach’s Robin Hack and Werder Bremen’s Justin Njinmah.

Hack has four goals and three assists in 17 games this season and is valued at £2.5m, while Njinmah has just three goals and two assists but is younger and valued the same.