With the Egyptian expected to move to Saudi Arabia next summer, rumours are rife that the Reds are already searching for a worthy successor
Liverpool's decision to reject all offers from Al-Ittihad for Mohamed Salah just before the close of the transfer window has been fully vindicated, with their Egyptian king one of the main reasons why they're back in the top four of the Premier League right now and dreaming of a surprise title challenge.
However, while the Reds' refusal to let the winger leave was utterly unsurprising, given his ongoing importance to Jurgen Klopp's team, the feeling was that they were merely postponing the inevitable. It's still difficult to see Salah moving during the January transfer window, no matter how much money is on the table, but next summer could be a very different story altogether.
After all, he will turn 32 next June and have just one year left on his contract, so it would make perfect sense for Liverpool to belatedly cash in on their talismanic attacker. Of course, finding a replacement will not be easy, even if there are some excellent options.
However, right now, one name is generating more transfer rumours than most – Leroy Sane. And while it's easy to understand why Liverpool might view the Bayern Munich man as their ideal Salah successor, a certain degree of scepticism among the supporters is also understandable.
GettyA familiar foe
Liverpool know all about how dangerous Sane can be. During his time at Manchester City, he scored four times against the Reds, whom he consigned to their only defeat during the 2018-19 Premier League campaign – which, of course, played a pivotal role in the outcome of one of the greatest and most closely fought title races in history.
However, the fans will also remember that by the time of that epic encounter at the Etihad, Sane was no longer a certain starter. He may have scored a career-high 16 goals that season, but speculation was already mounting that Sane wanted out.
Guardiola certainly did little to hide the fact that he was no longer entirely happy with the 2017-18 PFA Young Player of the Year. The issue was Sane's work-rate. Guardiola felt the youngster wasn't fulfilling his defensive duties when City were out of possession and admitted that he was frustrated by Sane's famously laid-back attitude as he believed it was holding the forward back.
"I am so demanding of him and sometimes I like to be critical of him," the Catalan coach confessed to reporters in April 2019. "We know his potential and we want to help him to be more consistent in his game."
Guardiola failed in that regard, though, with Sane belatedly completing a transfer to Bayern in 2020 after the deal had been held up by a serious knee injury sustained in a Community Shield clash with Liverpool the year before.
AdvertisementGettyFurther struggles in Munich
The change of scenery did little to remove the doubts surrounding Sane. If anything, they increased because many in Munich felt that the attacker simply wasn't right for Bayern; that he lacked the doggedness, determination and winning mentality demanded at the Allianz Arena.
Sane continued to score goals, hitting double figures in all competitions in each of his first three seasons at the club, but sparkled only sporadically.
When he first arrived, he spoke enthusiastically about playing under Hansi Flick, whom he first came across while playing for Germany's Under-21s. However, it later emerged that Flick had actually been pushing for the Bavarians to sign Timo Werner instead. This, then, was a deal very much of Hasan Salihamidzic's doing, as even Sane had admitted himself, explaining that the sporting director had been "behind the transfer from the first moment".
In that context, it's perhaps unsurprising that Sane struggled. Flick regularly questioned his work ethic and rarely gave him a full 90 minutes.
GettyPositional problems
The arrival of Julian Nagelsmann looked like the turning point in Sane's spell at the Allianz Arena, with the new, young coach giving him an inside-left role, which he relished, as he was part-winger, part-No.10. Indeed, during the first half of the 2021-22 season, Sane looked perfectly primed to become a bona fide superstar, netting 10 times before the winter break, with half of those goals coming during an electrifying Champions League group-stage campaign.
However, as he admitted himself, Bayern's season then screeched to a standstill and they were sensationally dumped out of Europe by Villarreal. Many pundits blamed Nagelsmann's decision to change formation, from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-3 that saw Sane moved back to the right, where his output dipped dramatically. He would score just four goals after Christmas and looked a shadow of his former self.
His frustration was obvious, too, and the fans became enraged by his air of resignation. Talk of a move away from Munich only intensified as Nagelsmann's reign unravelled earlier this year. The word was that Bayern were open to offers for their €60 million (£52m/$63m) signing.
Getty Right coach at the right time?
It wasn't initially clear if Thomas Tuchel taking over from Nagelsmann, who was sensationally sacked in March, was a positive or negative development for Sane. The former Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain coach has a reputation for asking a lot of his forwards from a defensive perspective, but at the same time, he managed to get something approaching the very best out of enigmatic characters like Neymar and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Tuchel also primarily deployed Sane on the right during the first weeks of his tenure and there was no marked improvement in the winger's performances. However, behind the scenes, the pair were bonding.
Despite the ongoing transfer talk, Tuchel was adamant that Sane had a key role to play in his side. He was convinced that he was the right coach to extract the absolute maximum out of one of the game's great unfulfilled talents.
Putting Sane back on the left certainly helped, but it was clear that there was more to it than that. There was, as Tuchel put it, "good chemistry" between the pair, so when he challenged Sane to dominate the Bundesliga, the winger obliged.
He's already well on his way towards obliterating his previous best goals tally for a single season (eight), having struck six times in seven outings in 2023-24, and Tuchel enthused after the 3-0 win over Freiburg just before the international break, "If he continues to play with that kind of freedom, hunger and positive body language, he can make the difference.”
As for Sane, he's in no doubt that Tuchel is not only "the right person for Bayern" – but also him as a player. "I talk to him a lot," he recently admitted. "He gives me a very good feeling and I feel a lot of trust."