West Ham star targeted as Mohamed Salah 'replacement'

Liverpool have been tipped to move in for the in-form West Ham winger Mohammed Kudus if their current Anfield star Mohamed Salah leaves the Merseyside club.

According to reports from Fichajes and TeamTalk, there are suggestions that Salah has ‘already agreed to go’ and if he does, the Irons star Kudus appears their most likely target.

Liverpool have already rejected previous bids for the Egyptian star with the Saudi Pro League reportedly offering £150m for the 31-year-old last summer. The club also had no intention of letting the winger leave in the January window but as Salah enters the final year of his current contract, the upcoming summer transfer season would offer the perfect opportunity to cash in on his exit.

Speaking about the possibility of a Salah exit, the former Reds left-back Jose Enrique said, as reported by the Mirror, : “If the right offer comes then I think Salah will leave because I think he was actually trying to leave last summer,” said Enrique. “They were offered something like £200 million for him last summer and that was a real offer!

“When you get an offer like that, usually it means there is already an agreement between the player and the club. I think Salah had already agreed to go and I believe that he will finally go to Saudi Arabia this summer.”

The 38-year-old former defender said of a potential replacement: “Mohammed Kudus is someone that I think could be a replacement for Salah,” continued Enrique. “Even last summer I would have said that and now of course he is playing really well for West Ham.

“You could also throw in someone like Ebere Eze from Crystal Palace, but there aren’t really any obvious replacements out there.”

West Ham signed the 23-year-old Kudus from Ajax for around £38 million last summer and the Ghanaian has already racked up 13 goals and four assists in his first campaign for the Irons. Starting his career with Nordsjaelland in 2018, Kudus has already secured 32 international caps and 11 goals for his country, scoring two of Ghana’s three goals in their 3-2 win over South Korea in the 2022 Fifa World Cup.

As a fellow left-footer, any incoming Liverpool boss could view him as a near like-for-like replacement for the 31-year-old Liverpudlian ‘Egyptian King’.