Liverpool FC v LOSC Lille - UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD7
Mohamed Salah is expected to leave Liverpool this summer (Picture: Getty)
Emile Heskey has named three possible replacements for Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah, including Chelsea flop Christian Pulisic.
Salah, 33, is expected to leave Anfield this summer following by far his least productive season for Liverpool.
The Egyptian superstar had scored 25 or more goals in all but one of his previous eight seasons on Merseyside, establishing himself as one of Liverpool’s greatest ever players.
But Salah is destined to fall way short of that figure having scored just seven goals so far this season.
Salah was heavily linked with a move ahead of the January transfer window after criticising both Liverpool and manager Arne Slot in an explosive interview.
Clubs in Saudi Arabia expressed interest in a deal but Liverpool decided to try and move on from the fall-out and kept Salah at the club.
A summer move feels inevitable, however, with Salah an increasingly less important member of Slot’s squad, as highlighted by his substitution in Sunday’s late win over Nottingham Forest.
Your football fix
Metro's Head of Sport James Goldman delivers punchy analysis, transfer talk and his take on the week's biggest stories direct to your inbox every week.
Sign up here, it's an open goal.
Manchester United Women v Manchester City Women - Barclays FA Women's Super League
Ex-England striker Emile Heskey (Picture: Getty)
As Salah continues to be linked with an Anfield exit, former Liverpool striker Heskey has named three possible replacements for one of the best players of his era.
Heskey identified PSG’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia as his first-choice pick and West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen as another who could fill the void left by Salah’s imminent departure.
Pulisic could all perform that role, according to Heskey, as he would ‘love’ to prove his disappointing spell at Chelsea was ‘just a blip’.
Chelsea spent £58m to sign Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund in 2019 but sold the American for just £20m four years later.
Chelsea FC v Newcastle United - Premier League
Former Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic (Picture: Getty)
Pulisic was part of Chelsea’s Champions League-winning squad but largely underwhelmed at Stamford Bridge, scoring 26 goals in 145 appearances.
The 27-year-old has been tentatively linked with a return to the Premier League in recent weeks, however, having enjoyed a revival at AC Milan, netting 42 goals across the past three seasons.
‘We’re talking about replacing Mohamed Salah and I think as fans you’ve got to look at something different because you can’t replace Mo Salah,’ Heskey told OLBG.
‘I remember one season I was speaking to someone who said Mo’s had a bad season. He’d scored 25 goals! I’d love to have had that bad of a season. We’re talking about someone scoring 20 plus, nearly 30 goals a season for 10 years.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
‘I think we’ve just got to look at something different and it might not suit the manager anyway to have someone like Mo Salah. He might want to change the formation.
‘I know that he was talking about a 4-4-2 diamond midfield and not having high and wide wingers and that would need something different.
‘I don’t think you can replace Mo Salah but I do like the lad from PSG, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. He would be my go-to.
‘Would Jarrod Bowen be a downgrade from Mohamed Salah? I think most players are a downgrade compared to Salah but to be honest with you Bowen is a different type of player and he would probably help the formation because he’s going to work a little bit harder than Mo.
‘I’m not saying Mo doesn’t work hard but Bowen has a different work rate and work ethic because he’s coming from West Ham and before that the lower leagues. It’s totally different.
‘I actually quite like Christian Pulisic. He is very direct. He probably didn’t get as many goals as I would have liked him to get at Chelsea but I thought he gave defences problems.
‘Obviously after a good World Cup, being at home with the pressure on him, he is definitely someone who could offer something different to Mohamed Salah or even Cody Gakpo right now.
‘Mo left Chelsea to go to Italy and look at what he’s done for Liverpool. I think it’d be great to see someone like Pulisic come back into the Premier League in the same way.
‘I’m guessing he would love to show that his time at Chelsea was just a little blip. He was only a young lad when he came over.’
Liverpool won the Premier League by ten points last season but made a dismal title defence, slipping 16 points behind current leaders Arsenal.
Slot’s side would have been even further back had if not been for Alexis Mac Allister’s injury-time winner against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Liverpool, sitting sixth in the Premier League, will hope to boost their top-four hopes when they face relegation-battlers West Ham next weekend.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram.
MORE: Michael Carrick pinpoints important decision Man Utd must get right this summer
MORE: Viktor Gyokeres reveals what Arsenal players said in crisis talks before north London derby
MORE: Wayne Rooney says Arsenal star has ‘not been good enough’ since summer transfer
Football Newsletter – In The Mixer
Punchy analysis, transfer talk and more from Metro's football experts, sent straight to your inbox every week.