Liverpool plot colossal signing of former Man City man as Slot spies January transfer bargain

Liverpool boss Arne Slot is pushing the Reds to make a move for Leroy Sane with the winger seen as ideal protection should Mo Salah depart – and with two ways sporting director Richard Hughes could trigger his signing from Bayern Munich coming to light.

Salah will go down in the history books as one of the Merseysiders’ greatest-ever signings, having cost a bargain £36.9m from Roma in the summer of 2017. In that time he has established himself among Liverpool‘s top-five goalscorers of all time on 214 notches and with only Billy Liddell (228), Gordon Hodgson (241), Roger Hunt (285) and the legendary Ian Rush (346) ahead of him.

But with his current deal expiring at the end of the current season, Liverpool have a big decision to make over Salah, who is now 32 and already the club’s best-paid player on £350,000 a week.

All the signs do point towards the player renewing at Anfield, with Jamie Carragher convinced he wants to stay and former Reds teammate Adrian  – who is one of the player’s closest friends in football – dropping a major update on the saga over the weekend.

Nonetheless, Caught Offside claims that Liverpool are protecting themselves against the possibility that Salah does not agree an extension to his current arrangement with Slot very much an admirer of and advising Liverpool to push ahead with a bid to snare Sane.

And with the former Manchester City winger’s contract at the Allianz Arena due to expire next summer, they report there is a growing belief that a deal is there to be done, either by signing him on a pre-contract agreement in January, or by potentially striking a low-cost deal to get him to Anfield in the January window.

READ MORE ➡️ Major Mo Salah Liverpool contract update emerges as close friend reveals star’s ‘clear’ intentions

What has Leroy Sane said on his Bayern Munich future?

With the 28-year-old boasting an impressive 48 goals and 50 assists from 175 matches for Bayern, he is one of the few wingers in the world game who boast stats that compare favourably to Salah, who has 214 goals and 92 assists from 352 matches for the Reds.

Understandably, competition for his signature will be tough come next summer with Arsenal and Newcastle already linked with moves to bring the 65-times capped Germany international back to the Premier League.

And with Sane just one of several Bayern stars who are due to fall out of contract before the end of the season – Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich and Alphonso Davies also fall into that category – sporting director Max Eberl is hoping to get an answer from the quintet over the coming weeks over whether they intend to sign a new deal.

Speaking to Sky Sports Germany, back in June, Sane appeared open to the idea of signing an extension at the Allianz Arena, saying: “So far, yes.

“We haven’t delved into too much detail yet. Right now, my focus is on the Euros. We’ll pick up discussions after the tournament.”

However, Football Insider now claims those talks have seen Bayern offer Sane a reduction on his current £17m (€20m / $22.4m) annual wages (£326,900 a week) if he is to stay, a move that has seemingly not gone down well with his camp, and with Bayern inclined to offer a bumper payrise instead to prodigious young talent Jamal Musiala.

As a result, that could yet lead to a breakdown in negotiations and accelerate a potential return to the Premier League for the winger and amd suggestions an offer for Sane in the winter window could persuade Bayern Munich to sell.

Liverpool urged to sign Prem man to replace Salah / Matip nears next move

Rather than signing Sane, though, pundit Tony Cascarino has advised Slot and Co to look a little closer to home when it comes to replacing the player, with Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo suggested as the ideal successor.

“I remember saying to you about if Mo Salah left, Mbeumo would be the one I would have gone after,” he told talkSPORT.

“He’s got so much about him, he’s got goals, he’s got durability, he’s just a nuisance every time he plays.”

Any deal for the Cameroon forward would not come cheap, however, with the Bees rating their star in the £50m bracket – a sizeable amount more than the Reds would likely need to fork out for Sane.

Elsewhere today, it has emerged that former Reds defender Joel Matip is closing on his next move with a return to the Premier League on the cards.

The centre-half, without a club since leaving Anfield at the end of last season, has been strongly linked with West Ham.

However, it now appears that Matip will choose between two other Premier League sides when deciding his next move.

How does Sane compare to Salah?

There is no argument that Salah is more of a goal threat than Sane and is one of the best to ever do it in the Premier League, but there are certain areas where the German came out on top last season.

Dribbles is the one that arguably stands out the most, with the Bayern man far more direct in that regard – taking on opponents almost three times as much as his more illustrious counterpart.

Sane is also more reliable in possession, as evidenced above, and is also better in the category of key passes per game. That all appears to suggest he is more of a team player than the outstanding individual performer that Salah is and has been during his time at Anfield.

That may well be the route Arne Slot wants to go down next, although replacing the Liverpool legend will be easier said than done for the former Manchester City man.