Ex-player: Liverpool ‘need another £50m player’ to support Salah and co
Jose Enrique believes Liverpool “need another £50m player” to support Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino.
The Reds have been without Salah, Mane and Naby Keita this month as they have been at the African Cup of Nations.
Liverpool have fared well without the trio as they are unbeaten in January. Their first Premier League game after the winter break is on February 10 against Leicester City.
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Jota was their last big money attacking signing. He joined Liverpool from Wolves in 2020 for around £41m plus add-ons.
Enrique believes his former club currently “lack strength in depth in the front three”:
“I wasn’t positive before AFCON. I didn’t expect Liverpool to be as good as they have been without Salah and Mane,” Enrique said (via The Mirror)
“They lack strength in depth in the front three, so them going was a big problem for Liverpool. But Jota has stepped in, Firmino and Oxlade-Chamberlain too.
“But they still need someone else who can play in the front three similar to Jota, who’s scoring goals and doing well. Profile-wise, Liverpool need another £40m or £50m kind of player to support the front three now.
“I’m sure if you ask any Liverpool fan they would say the same thing.”
Enrique went onto say that he is “worried” about Salah’s contract situation:
“I wasn’t worried about Salah’s contract in the summer but now, with only one year left at the end of the season, he doesn’t look any closer to signing.
“Obviously we don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. I am worried because with any player of his quality, if you say you’re not going to pay him the money you then have to go and find a player of his quality to buy and pay their wages.
“He’s the best player in the world, so it’s better to pay him more while they have him.
“He knows the style of Klopp, he’s happy at the club. It’s fair from Salah, no one can blame him.
“The fans are very hard on the players in this situation. But you have to give him what he wants because he deserves it.”
