Malick Fofana celebrates with his Lyon teammates against Rangers in the Europa League | PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Imagesplaceholder image
Malick Fofana celebrates with his Lyon teammates against Rangers in the Europa League | PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images | AFP via Getty Images
Liverpool still need to add one or two new faces with the future of one potential target still up in the air.
Liverpool’s transfer window isn’t over and yet Arne Slot would probably be the happier of the Premier League bosses if the season was to end tomorrow.
There could be a couple of late additions to make it a near perfect summer, especially if the two new faces are Alexander Isak and Marc Guehi. The final pieces of the jigsaw in the Reds boss’ squad. The two summers since Slot took charge have been completely different with the cycle of Jurgen Klopp’s team coming to an end and a new era beginning.
Liverpool target Malick Fofana facing uncertain future
What this means is that, once the new players bed in, the future will see tinkering rather than an overhaul needing to be made with the priority being identifying long-term options to replace the irreplaceable pair of Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah. A task easier said than done, but at least Richard Hughes and the recruitment team have a chance. One player who has had talks with Liverpool and sees Anfield as a dream move is Malick Fofana who has had an update on his future.
Jean Baptiste-Duluc, writing for Eurosport, has reported that despite claims of Fofana’s short-term future being already decided, that a move this summer could yet be on the cards: “With the transfer window just days away, Olympique Lyonnais and Malick Fofana still don't know whether or not they'll be together for the season. Both parties would like to continue the adventure for another year, but the economic reality is impossible for OL to ignore. Nor is the lack of a suitor, or a good option.
“This is a difficult choice that Olympique Lyonnais no longer thought they would have the luxury of at the beginning of June, but which they would have been happy to do without, on the eve of a transfer window that will determine the entire season, and even more, for the Rhône club. Malick Fofana is a paradox: he costs money that Lyon does not have, and brings back on the pitch what the Gones dare not lose. An insoluble choice for OL, today at a crossroads: keep Fofana and nurture the hope of a finally ambitious sporting season, or sell him and secure an economic balance that, for too long, has resembled an obsession. It must be said that the club has come too far, on both counts, to agree to put obstacles in its own way at the end of August.”
How do Liverpool replace Salah?
It isn’t possible to replace Salah, but what Hughes and his team can do is sign a player either this summer or next summer, if Fofana stays at Lyon, who has the potential to contribute with goals and assists. The way to truly find a way to make up for the loss of someone who scores 30 goals a season is in other positions. Hugo Ekitike is already closing in on Darwin Nunez’s tally from last season which means that not as many goals need to be found from elsewhere.
On paper, it looks like Isak is the player who Liverpool want to replace Salah because he is a match winner and Fofana would replace Luis Diaz. Ekitike is a prototype of Isak, aside from the Swede’s ability to play wider and in the channels, a speciality that Salah has mastered in terms of picking up space on the right-hand side but if the club is to become a force in Europe and dominant domestically, they need more than one player capable of scoring goals. Fofana might not be Mo Salah, but he could well be his replacement, whether it is this summer or next.
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