Mo Salah: The nine-figure man for Real Madrid?
Arriving from Roma for £34m last summer, Liverpool’s Mo Salah has taken the Premier League by storm this season, under the guidance of manager Jurgen Klopp. The Premier League’s leading goalscorer at Christmas, and still on course to become the first midfielder to finish top of the charts, Salah has gone from being a ‘Chelsea reject’ to one of football’s most wanted.
In the aftermath of Salah’s brace against Leicester on 30 December, Klopp was quick to praise his bargain buy and re-emphasise his importance to Liverpool’s creativity in the final third. It was a perfect reflection of the Anfield faithful’s current feelings towards Salah, and the Egyptian’s stock, it seems, is increasing by the day.
Salah’s success has also had a knock-on effect where World Cup spread betting with Sporting Index is concerned. Despite being in a group that Egypt is likely to find difficult, the buy/sell price of the seven-time AFCON winners has risen steadily, with Salah’s continuing his good form after the World Cup finals draw on 1 December.
Naturally, such an increase in ‘stock’ yields interest from clubs with a greater European pedigree, and no club has greater continental success than Real Madrid. At present, the Galacticos are aiming to become the first team to win three successive Champions League titles. However, the league is a sorry story for Real Madrid, with Zinedine Zidane’s men long since out of the title running, and at risk of failing out of the Champions League spots altogether.
With his very livelihood at stake, Zinedine Zidane has already voiced his admiration for Salah, leading to rumours of a potential nine-figure coup for Salah’s services. Indeed, with Real’s ‘El Clasico’ rivals Barcelona recently acquiring the services of Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool for £143m, Salah (on current form) is worth just as much in the eyes of a significant number of pundits.
Pace, vision and marksmanship are the principal skills required from any attack-minded player, whether a winger, number ten or striker, and Salah boasts those three key elements in abundance. Thus, those that believe he is worth nine figures may have a case to argue, especially when the price of Salah’s transfer to Liverpool is compared to that of other players who moved for far greater amounts at around the same time. Prime examples, in that respect, include Alvaro Morata and Romelu Lukaku.
As recognised strikers, Morata and Lukaku’s respective values were naturally inflated. Yet, if Salah, Morata and Lukaku are all judged by the same quality marks of pace, vision and marksmanship, there is but one winner. In addition to having a far greater goals-per-game ratio than Morata and Lukaku, Salah also wins out in the departments of shot accuracy (63%), pass completion (77%) and successful take-ons (66.27%).
In addition to his all-round attacking skill, Salah’s adaptability to new leagues also puts his true value close to nine figures – if not actually at nine figures. In previous years, players have made the transition from Serie A, to the more physical English top flight and floundered. Invariably, those incapable of adapting to the Premier League have been branded ‘flops’. Subsequently, they have returned home, or found solace at another European club with more humble ambitions
‘Flop’ status, often a harsh and reactionary tag, has now been comfortably avoided by Salah. For Salah not to be worth at least the £75m Manchester United paid for Romelu Lukaku, who himself has not lived up to the stratospheric expectations of some people, would be a huge double standard. Furthermore, it would be a sad indictment of how much stardom eclipses substance in a top flight where vast wealth, barring Leicester-esque flukes, is the number one kingmaker.
Where Salah goes from here will likely hinge on Liverpool’s presence (or lack thereof) in the Champions League of 2018/19. Having ended Manchester City’s monstrous unbeaten run on 14 January, Liverpool are in pole position to take an automatic qualification berth. Regardless of where Liverpool finish, Salah’s price can only rise between now and 1 July, the all-important date that opens the summer transfer window and (potentially) the opportunity for Salah to make the decision of a lifetime.