The stunning £105m signing who could replace Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah - according to wild prediction

The future of Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah is back on the agenda once again after the Egyptian international dropped a major hint over his future in the aftermath of Sunday’s impressive win at Manchester United.

The former Roma and Chelsea forward is now in the final year of his current contract at Anfield and admitted this is his last season with the Reds after what has been a remarkable seven-year stay. During his time with the red half of Merseyside, Salah has plundered his way to 214 goals and has provided 92 assists in 352 appearances and has won the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League and Carabao Cup.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the Old Trafford win, he said: "I had a good summer and had a long time to myself to try to stay positive because as you know, it's my last year at the club. I just want to enjoy it and I don't want to think about it. I feel like I'm free to play football and then we'll see what happens next year. I was coming to the game today thinking it could be the last time. Nobody at the club has spoken to me yet about a new contract so I just play this last season and then see at the end of the season. It's not up to me but nobody talk to me about a contract with the club. We'll see."

Those comments brought a reply from Reds head coach Slot, as he said: “It's a lot of 'ifs’ but at this moment he’s one of ours and I’m really, really happy with him being one of ours. He plays really well. I don’t talk about contracts for players, but I can talk for hours about how Mo played today. But are you interested in that?”

But how could Liverpool fare without Salah? We fired up Football Manager 2024, updated the Reds squad to its current state with the use of the editor and allowed the world’s most popular managerial simulation to predict what would play out at Anfield once the Egyptian international had moved on.

A big money replacement hits the goal trail

With Salah’s lucrative free transfer move to Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad completed, the Reds made a club record signing to replace their star man as Napoli striker Victor Osimhen was secured in a £105m deal. That came after the Nigerian was the subject of intense interest from the likes of Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and AC Milan. However, it was the Reds that won the race for his services and he provided an immediate reward by scoring on his Premier League debut as Slot’s side opened their season with an impressive 4-1 home win against Aston Villa. The set the tone for an impressive first month in England for Osimhen as he found the net in his next three games, ending the month with a brace in a 2-2 draw with Everton to take his total to five goals in his first four appearances.

Injury blow disrupts the season

There was a major blow for Liverpool as their record signing suffered a broken foot during the first international break of the season after scoring for Nigeria in a friendly against Ghana. Such was the severity of his injury, Osimhen remained on the sidelines for two months as Arne Slot turned to Darwin Nunez to carry the responsibility of being his leading frontman.

A low key return - but the form soon returns

After making a return to action as a late substitute in a Carabao Cup win at Ipswich, Osimhen remained on the bench for a 1-0 home win against Arsenal as his side continued to compete with the Gunners and Manchester City at the top of the Premier League. However, the striker did not have to wait long to get back into the team as an injury for Nunez saw him return - and he wasted little time by hitting a first-half hat-trick in a thrilling 6-3 away win at Brentford. Between that mid-November victory and Christmas, Osimhen scored two goals on three occasions to help his side to wins against Brighton and Aston Villa, as well as an away draw at Newcastle.

An FA Cup hero and villain

One route to silverware had been snatched away by a penalty shoot-out defeat against Manchester City in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup and the Reds slipped eight points adrift of Pep Guardiola’s side and Arsenal in the title race after a disastrous run of form over the festive period. However, the Reds, and Osimhen in particular, found the FA Cup to their liking. The Nigeria star scored four goals in an 8-0 demolition of MK Dons in the third round before coming off the bench to net a late winner in a 3-2 victory at Championship club Swansea City.

With the league form providing further inconsistency, the same could not be said of the FA Cup as Liverpool progressed into the semi-finals of the competition with a 1-0 win at Aston Villa and a 3-2 home victory against Norwich City. Sadly, their bid for Wembley glory came to an end when Osimhen was shown a red card for a two-footed tackle on Ruben Dias as Manchester City ended another route to silverware with a 3-0 semi-final defeat of the Reds.

A strong end to the season and a top four finish

With City claiming the Premier League title once again by the time May had rolled around, Liverpool’s main battle was ensuring they secured a Champions League place and Osimhen helped them do exactly that by finding the net in their last four Premier League games. That played no small part in helping Slot’s men take maximum points from games against Crystal Palace, Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and, most crucially, Chelsea.