Once the FA Cup final is done and dusted, ‘silly season’ aka the summer transfer window can begin again in earnest.
Most clubs in the Premier League are likely to want to strengthen their playing staff, but the impact of the coronavirus pandemic will see everyone having to get creative in order to secure some of their prime targets.
Liverpool, having come off the back of an almost perfect campaign, only potentially need a slight tweak here and there, but beIN Sports pundit, Andy Gray, believes that two of their biggest stars could be on the move to Spain, throwing Jurgen Klopp’s plans into chaos.
“I’ve been saying to you for some time I think he (Salah) will leave Liverpool sooner rather than later and I think Mane might also,” Gray said on beIN Sports and cited by Teamtalk.
“If [Salah] told Liverpool ‘by the way, I’m off this summer’, I think they’ve got a real battle on their hands. I don’t think Liverpool can afford to lose both of them. I don’t know what their contract terms are, I’m not sure how long each has got.
“I guess Mane [would] come up and say: ‘Well, if he’s going I want to go as well’. It’s a double battle.
“You only hope if you’re Liverpool that the success they’ve had – Champions League victory last year, championship this year – that that would be enough to keep them at the club.
“But we know foreign footballers have a different view of the Real Madrid’s and the Barcelona’s of this world. They desperately want to play for them, desperately.”
What’s interesting to note is that Gray has no foundation for his school of thought, only an assumption that if one of either Mane or Salah decide to go – which is unlikely – the other will follow.
Given that the Reds are the holders of the Premier League title, won the Champions League just a year ago and are playing some of the best football in the world, it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to leave.
Yes, both Barca and Real Madrid have kudos, but they’re far from the teams they were a few years ago.
The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.