Wirtz and Isak must now step up
Quite aside from any incoming transfers that can paper over the Salah-less cracks Liverpool will need to get the best out of the players already on the books. And that means the onus will be on both Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak to prove their value.
Wirtz, 22, cost a fee which could reach £116m when he joined from Bayer Leverkusen last summer.
Liverpool fans have been patient while the Germany international gets to grips with English football but he needs to improve and fast with no Salah alongside him from next season.
His output thus far is decent but praising Wirtz any higher would be disingenuous. Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino demonstrated exactly what it takes to make a top Liverpool forward and Wirtz right now isn’t bringing it.
His transfer was a British record at the time – bettered only by the £125m that Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes paid for Isak on deadline day.
Isak and Wirtz = £241m
And if Wirtz can be classified as adequate in his debut season then Isak must go down as abject. The Swede, 26, has scored two Premier League goals to date – spending far too much of the season on the sidelines.
While his current leg-break is a stroke of misfortune his travails throughout the autumn were largely self-inflicted. He went into self-imposed exile at Newcastle – depriving himself of a pre-season and subsequently suffering muscle injuries.
If Liverpool see any more goals this season it would be a blessing – but he has got to hit the ground running next term.
Hughes committed a total which could reach over £241m for the record-breaking pair and it’s fair to say the Premier League champions have had zero value for money.
Without Salah to mask deficiencies elsewhere the time will soon come when Wirtz and Isak need to move from the periphery to the centre of the attack.
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