What the ECHO has learned about Liverpool's Mohamed Salah replacement plan

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The ECHO's Liverpool FC correspondent Paul Gorst looks at how the Reds will begin to source Mohamed Salah's successorFor most of the last decade at Liverpool, the prospect of having to replace Mohamed Salah has been unthinkable.That, though, is what is now immediately facing sporting director Richard Hughes and a recruitment department that will have to once more prove why it is has broadly been the envy of football these past nine years.It's difficult to recall now, given Salah's remarkable service, that he was not initially the first choice of Jurgen Klopp in the summer of 2017.With Liverpool back in the Champions League for the first time in three years, Klopp was eyeing a move for Julian Brandt, then of Bayer Leverkusen, only to be swayed by the persuasive words of sporting director Michael Edwards and Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows, two Anfield stalwarts who served as the chief scout and head of recruitment, respectively.FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! But just how exactly will Liverpool broach a subject they have steadfastly tried to avoid for so long through record-breaking and history-making contracts on Merseyside?Since Salah's Tuesday night video confirmed his end-of-season exit, several names have emerged: Michael Olise from Bayern Munich, Yan Diomande of RB Leipzig and Juventus winger Francisco Conceicao have all been linked with the Reds.The ECHO was informed last week that Liverpool were keeping tabs on Juve's Portugal international Conceicao but checks with multiple sources at Anfield have downplayed interest in the 23-year-old.

The 24-year-old's star has risen considerably since he traded Crystal Palace for Bayern Munich and he has been one of the Bundesliga's outstanding players this season.A potential deal for the France international could reach club-record levels for Liverpool, who forked out £116m and £125m on Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak alone last summer and Bayern have no intention of listening to offers for Olise at this stage."We're not even considering that," Bayern sporting director Max Eberl told German publication BILD last week. "He's an FC Bayern player and has all the opportunities here that top players could wish for."CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen, added: "No matter which club tries to lure him away, anyone who plays for FC Bayern knows what they have at FC Bayern."Anfield figures point towards the £320m spent on Isak, Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike last summer as reasons why Salah's 'successor' may already be inside the AXA Training Centre.

France international Ekitike is currently on 17 for the Reds in maiden campaign and the impending return of Isak will give Arne Slot more options.Sweden international Isak hasn't played since December 20 when he broke his leg in a tackle by Tottenham Hotspur's Micky van den Ven when opening the scoring in that 2-1 win in London and while he is expected back in April, expectations will be tempered by what has been a season of enormous difficulties for the most expensive player in British football history.Slot spoke earlier this season of adapting his attacking patterns to get the best out of Isak, who registered 44 goals in his last two full Premier League campaigns at Newcastle United and there is a school of thought that suggests a different type of profile will be looked at this summer as a result.Isak dovetailed superbly with Jacob Murphy at Newcastle, with the winger responsible for the lion's share of assists for the Reds' current No.9 and while a similar type of player means a change in what Liverpool want from their widemen, who have tended to cut inside on their stronger foot and be the most source of goals in the last decade, getting as close to full value from the £125m Isak has to now take priority.That also opens up the prospect of Ekitike operating consistently in a left-sided role rather than centrally, where he has been asked to play most weeks, particularly since Isak suffered his injury at Spurs.A winger will sought after this summer to add more quality to a Liverpool frontline that lost Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and, tragically, Diogo Jota last year but the idea that the target in question must replicate Salah's output in front of goal has been dismissed. This affords them the knowledge in good time before the window opens that the player's reported salary of £400,000 a week will be off what is one of the biggest wage bills in football, saving the club around £21m for what would have been the final year of his contract.Given Salah's eye-watering pay, extracting a fee from interested parties in the summer was viewed as difficult and while the Saudi Pro League has often been held up the next destination for the Egyptian, it's unclear at this stage how much appetite there is from the biggest clubs in the region to pay a transfer fee on top of salary demands of a bona-fide superstar.Al-Ittihad are viewed as the front runners from the SPL and while there has been no contact of as yet, there is little denial from the Middle Eastern giants, who could lose former Aston Villa star Moussa Diaby to free up a spot in their squad.