Liverpool Urged to Hand More Minutes to Potential Mo Salah Replacement

When Liverpool won the Premier League title back in May, not many would’ve expected to see the Reds sitting down in 4th place in the table at the end of 2025.

It also would’ve been unheard of to imagine that Mohamed Salah’s future at the club could be in doubt.

Although the Egyptian King is currently away at AFCON with Egypt, there have been some murmours that Saudi clubs could be considering a January move for the club legend.

As it stands, a January exit does remain unlikely but there does seem to be a sense of acceptance that Salah could leave in the summer.

And former Man United title winner Paul Parker believes that his potential replacement could already be at the club…

Time for Federico Chiesa to Step Up?

The Italian forward was handed a rare start in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Wolves. Despite a fairly lacklustre performance, it could be a platform for the fan favourite attacker to build on.

“I wonder whether there’s a player in Federico Chiesa to fill Mo Salah’s shoes,” began Parker, “He won’t give you the same amount of goals as Salah, but the major difference is that he isn’t a lazy player.”

“He will track back and not just stand there and wait for the ball, he works for it,” continued Parker, “Great teams don’t rely on one player and have an array of goalscorers and Chiesa can help make those goals, but also adds huge value in his tracking back.”

Liverpool’s Biggest Miss This Season

According to Parker, Liverpool are really missing the impact of Luis Diaz. The Colombian left in the summer in a £70m move to Bayern Munich, where he has been incredible.

“Liverpool’s biggest miss this season has been Luis Diaz,” stated Parker, “He barely gets mentioned among this Salah fiasco, but he was a key player for them and hasn’t been replaced at all.”

It’s a good point. Liverpool chose not to sign a left-winger, leaving Cody Gakpo as the only senior option in that position.

Wonderkid Rio Ngumoha, as bright as he started the season, has hardly been given a sniff of proper action by Slot even when Gakpo has been absent.

Antoine Semenyo would’ve brought depth and quality to Liverpool’s attacking options and also would’ve brought back that energy and pressing that Dia supplied. Instead, the Reds are going to watch him stroll into the arms of rivals Manchester City in the coming days.