Liverpool have lost three games in a row. It’s a marker of how high Anfield has risen over the past decades that this has been met with hysteria across England and dejection across the red halves of Merseyside streets.
By one point Liverpool trail Premier League pace-setters Arsenal, who have already been defeated by Arne Slot’s side this term. Liverpool have broken records with their spending across the summer transfer window, and they won the top-flight title at a canter last year.
But we can’t ignore the tactical imbalances and issues in bedding new players in. Teething problems have lingered far longer than anyone would have anticipated.
Many games have been entertaining, but Liverpool have lost the control and confidence they oozed throughout the 2024/25 campaign. Will Slot rekindle that flame? So many late goals across the past two months, flying both directions, is evidence that improvements are needed.
Defensively and in midfield, Slot’s side have left plenty to be desired. But they are also being let down up top, with the 33-year-old Mohamed Salah’s struggles telling of the need for a new right-sided forward.
Why Liverpool need to sign a Salah heir
Salah has entered his ninth campaign as a Liverpool player, but he has been part of the problem engulfing Slot’s side so far, scoring three goals and supplying three assists across all competitions but drifting through games and lacking even a small measure of his trademark vim and vigour.
Salah has seldom gone through dry spells in front of goal in the Premier League, but his last-minute penalty at Burnley is his only strike since the opening day win over Bournemouth.
Still, he’s one of the greatest forwards in the competition’s history, and the veteran will retain full confidence in his ability to return to form. He practically led Liverpool to the title last year, after all.
Alan Shearer
441
260
Harry Kane
320
213
Wayne Rooney
491
208
Mohamed Salah
308
188
Andy Cole
414
187
It’s painful to consider, but there is also the possibility that Liverpool have extended Salah’s contract by two years so that they can receive a payment from suitors in 2026. There’s a sizeable chance Saudi Arabian outfits will return for the Egyptian King at the end of the season, tempting him with a glinting late-career pay packet.
Should Salah leave, Liverpool will need a high-level replacement, and the English giants appear to have focused their sights on Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise.
Well, if Spanish sources are correct, Liverpool have been informed by Bayern Munich that a bid worth €150m (£131m) could be enough to sign the 23-year-old next year. The Anfield side would rather pay closer to €100m (£86m) for Olise’s signature.
Olise was widely regarded as one of the best attacking midfielders in the Premier League when at Selhurst Park, and he has only improved since moving to the Bundesliga.
Though Bayern are looking to bank a pretty penny for the France international’s sale, FSG and Reds sporting director Richard Hughes has shown they are willing to break the bank for the right signing.
What Michael Olise would bring to Liverpool
Olise, crucially, is a proven Premier League star. He left Crystal Palace and signed for Bayern Munich during the summer of 2024 for about £50m, and that looks a real coup for the German giants.
Pundit Micah Richard remarked while Olise was an Eagle that he “is going to be a superstar”. Richards was right. Awe and adoration in south London has been transported and developed over in Germany, with Olise having hit 54 goal involvements from 65 matches with Die Roten, including five goals and six assists from just ten fixtures in 2025/26.
He doesn’t boast the same devastating goalscoring ability as Salah, but Liverpool’s summer investments in Isak and Hugo Ekitike tell of a goalscoring shift back to the centre. In other words, this is the perfect profile to replace the ageing winger at Liverpool, whose underlying metrics are not at the same level as Olise.
Goals scored
0.65
0.39
Assists
0.43
0.50
Shots taken
2.98
3.47
Shot-creating actions
3.85
6.56
Touches (att pen)
8.43
6.32
Pass completion (%)
70.2
80.7
Progressive passes
3.80
7.50
Progressive carries
4.00
5.02
Successful take-ons
1.15
2.48
Ball recoveries
3.00
3.81
Salah has not been at the races this season, but scaling it back across 12 months, the depth of Olise’s top form in Germany is emphasised.
Across all competitions, Liverpool’s star forward scored 34 goals and assisted 23 more, after all.
Olise hasn’t cracked the same clinical heights, but he is “one of the best talents in the world”, in the eyes of Palace manager Oliver Glasner, who helped take the ace’s game to the next level.
With Salah having completed only 13% of his dribbles in the Premier League this season, as per Sofascore, averaging a measly 0.9 successful ground duels per match too, there’s been little to write home about, and Slot’s hesitance to deploy Federico Chiesa or Jeremie Frimpong on the right during Liverpool’s big matches makes a telling comment on his thoughts about a big-money signing in the shape of Olise.
Might it be that Liverpool part with their club legend at the end of the season? The news that Hughes is already sounding out a move for an elite talent such as Olise highlights the desire to sign such a player.
And given that he knows the Premier League well, with 36 direct contributions in the competition, the young and ever-improving Olise may well be the perfect addition to ease the fateful day when Salah hangs up his Liverpool boots.