Liverpool right winger Mohamed Salah is one of the best players in the history of the Premier League. At the age of 31, Salah is still going strong despite playing a physically demanding position. Most players his age are on the decline, yet Salah remains a Ballon d'Or candidate and one of the best wingers in the world. Currently, he has five goals and four assists in the first eight Premier League matches of the 2023/24 season.
However, as brilliant as Salah still is, he may not be able to maintain this level for a few more years. Even "Father Time" has caught up with Luka Modrić. Salah has strong offers from the Saudi Pro League, so he may choose to end his career in a more relaxed atmosphere with an even bigger paycheck coming in.
Liverpool must keep an eye on right-wingers who can replace Salah in a few years. Here are five possible long-term options for the Reds.
5. Nicolás González, Fiorentina
Most football fans probably don't know much about Nicolás González, who was a quality winger on a struggling Stuttgart side before breaking out last season with Fiorentina despite not starting every match. By the end of the season, Nico González became the Viola's most important player, proving critical in their runs to the Conference League and Coppa Italia Finals.
This season, González is off to an even stronger start for Fiorentina. The 25-year-old is entering the prime of his career and showing it. He has already found the back of the net five times. A highly skilled winger, González is extremely difficult to dispossess, and he has the moxie to produce goals from absolutely nothing, particularly when his team needs it most.
It isn't easy to find talented players on the right wing, so González should be on the Reds' watchlist. And remember, Salah first started impressing at Fiorentina before moving to Roma, where he dominated before writing history in Liverpool.
4. Takefusa Kubo, Real Sociedad
Since spreading his wings in San-Sebastián, Takefusa Kubo has been one of the darlings of LaLiga. Kubo joined Real Madrid in the summer 2019 transfer window as a free transfer, and while Madrid had high hopes after an encouraging loan spell with Mallorca, his career seemed to be derailed by two loans in the 2020/21 season to Villarreal and Getafe. Kubo was asked to do too much defending by those managers, who didn't really see the value in accommodating Kubo's skill set.
After a decent return to Mallorca in 2021-22, Real Madrid sold Kubo to Real Sociedad with the possibility of buying him back. With a more inventive attacking side in La Real, Kubo has flourished. And to prove his 2022-23 season was no fluke, Kubo is already sitting on five goals in 2023-24. If anything, he looks like an even more complete attacking threat.
Still only 22 years of age, the Japanese international could move back to Madrid relatively easily, but Los Blancos may be too crowded after bringing in Jude Bellingham, Arda Güler, and Brahim Díaz in the last summer transfer window.
Kubo is ready to move to an elite club. He is more of a playmaker than a winger, but he has the dynamism to be an option on the right wing if Liverpool have a left winger, such as Luis Díaz, holding width.
3. Eren Dinkçi, Heidenheim
Newly-promoted Bundesliga side Heidenheim have been one of the most entertaining clubs to watch in European football. Despite being new to the top flight, they are not afraid to take the fight to the biggest clubs in Germany, and that approach has paid off with results like a 2-2 draw against 2022-23 title challengers Borussia Dortmund. This approach is important for the development of their young players, particularly their young attacking talents.
Right winger Eren Dinkçi is far from a household name, but he's becoming a player to watch closely. Only 21 years old, Dinkçi has already found the back of the net four times this season, averaging a healthy 1.6 key passes, 1.1 dribbles completed, and 1.0 fouls drawn per game.
Those are fantastic, all-around numbers for a young winger playing in his first top-flight season as a full-time starter. Of course, he did receive minutes for Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga over the past couple of seasons, but he never started a game last season. In 2020/21, he started just one game for Werder. And in 2021/22, his eight starts were actually in the 2. Bundesliga.
Jürgen Klopp loves his hidden finds in the German top flight, such as Joël Matip and, most recently, Wataru Endō. Make sure to put Dinkçi on the list, because he looks like a real talent.
2. Jarrod Bowen, West Ham
Linked to Liverpool this past summer, Jarrod Bowen has become a less realistic transfer target for the Reds in light of signing a new seven-year contract with West Ham that will keep him at the club through 2030.
That said, a lot can change in the next few years, which is when Liverpool would be thinking about replacing Mohamed Salah. At the rate Salah is still going, it is hard to see him moving to Saudi Arabia next summer. We may even be talking about a move in 2027 when he nears the age of 35. By then, Bowen could be available, since West Ham's situation could change.
Bowen has been one of the best players in the Premier League over the past couple of seasons. That may sound like an exaggeration, but it is only recently that the right winger has started to be properly rated by the wide world of football fans.
In 2021-22, Bowen scored 12 goals with 10 assists in his first season in the English top flight, having just joined West Ham from Hull where he set the scoring charts ablaze as a winger. Last season, Bowen helped lead West Ham to the Conference League trophy, carrying the team in the Premier League so that they would not be relegated.
This season, the Hammers have improved and so have Bowen's numbers within the league. He is already sitting on five goals through eight games, providing dynamic dribbling and endless work rate for his side. He fits the kind of profile of a smashmouth, hard-working, goal-scoring winger than Klopp likes to have.
1. Pontus Almqvist, Lecce
The final player to watch is another underrated gem in the mold of Eren Dinkçi — Pontus Almqvist. Serie A seems to have a bevy of out-of-nowhere breakout stars every season, and the new Lecce man looks like one such player to watch in Italian football.
Almqvist is already one of the leading dribblers in the league. He is averaging two dribbles completed and two fouls drawn per game, providing an exciting, dynamic threat that meshes well with the other attacking standouts in Lecce.
The 24-year-old is a bit of a late bloomer, as he was never nearly this good for Rostov and Utrecht in previous seasons. But maybe he needed the faith and responsibility a top-flight club like Lecce have placed in him.
Almqvist is a risky transfer and is more of an underrated player to monitor over the next couple of seasons, rather than a slam-dunk target for Liverpool. But since this position is scarce with talent and since Almqvist clearly is an x-factor with his playing style, he is absolutely someone Kopites should keep in the back of their mind as the 2023-24 season continues.
