Mohamed Salah joins Liverpool for a club record fee

Liverpool’s attack got a bit more potent on Thursday with the announcement that Mohamed Salah would be joining the Reds. The club announced that Salah has joined the club on a long-term deal, and the BBC reports the transfer fee as £39 million. Salah is the most expensive Liverpool signing ever, breaking Andy Carroll’s record.

Salah struggled during his last spell in the Premier League, turning in average performances for Chelsea. They loaned him to Fiorentina for six months, then to Roma for the next season with the option to buy, which was exercised. In his first season contracted to Roma, Salah had his best campaign yet, tallying 15 goals and 13 assists.

It’s likely that Salah’s struggles at Chelsea were deemed irrelevant by Liverpool. That was his first half-season in a big league after a move from Basel in Switzerland. In 84 Serie A games, Salah has recorded 34 goals and 24 assists, and has been an extremely consistent performer over two and a half seasons. He should start his Liverpool career much better equipped to handle Premier League soccer than he was at the start of his Chelsea career.

Salah should be a perfect fit for Jürgen Klopp’s system

There’s a lot to like about Salah’s game, but his best attribute might be his pace, plus excellent fitness and work rate to go along with it. Salah regularly torched defenses in the dying minutes of Roma matches last season, showing great burst even after running hard for 90 minutes. That’ll make him a perfect fit in Klopp’s fast-paced, high-pressure system.

Last season, there was no player in Serie A better than Salah at getting into the box, then creating a quality shot for himself or a teammate.

What to do with Sadio Mané and Philippe Coutinho?

It’s clear that Salah is good enough to start for Liverpool, and clear that both Mané and Coutinho are top players as well. But Klopp will need to make some adjustments to fit all of them in his side. Liverpool was probably at their best with Mané on the right and Coutinho on the left last season, but Salah is a very specific player — a left-footed right winger. It’s very unlikely that Klopp sees Salah as a striker, right winger, or central attacking midfielder.

This probably means that Mané — who has played both wings — is about to become a first-choice left winger. Coutinho will move inside, a spot he’s played plenty, but with mixed results. He’s the best playmaker Liverpool has, but he’ll have to get better at keeping the ball under pressure from multiple angles and defensive positioning to stick as a central midfielder.

Adam Lallana and Georginio Wijnaldum were both good for Liverpool next season, but Salah’s arrival likely leaves them fighting for playing time, even though he doesn’t play either’s preferred position.

But Klopp doesn’t need to have a first-choice starting XI if he doesn’t want one. He can play Mané on the left one game and Coutinho another, depending on his opposition. Lallana might be a three-position backup and super sub. Signing Salah creates problems, sure, but they’re the good kind.

Record fee? So what. Salah is a bargain.

I’m going to pause for a minute and let you reflect on the state of a transfer market where £39 million for any non-global megastar is considered a “bargain.” Crazy, isn’t it? From 1996 to 2006, the British record transfer fee only went up from £15 million to £30 million. Between 2006 and 2016, it went up to £90 million.

Over it yet?

OK, good. In the current market, £39 million for Salah is excellent business by Liverpool. The Reds had to pay £34 million last summer for Sadio Mané, who is less productive. Tottenham Hotspur paid £30 million for Moussa Sissoko, who probably isn’t even a Premier League-level player. Manchester City just paid £43 million for Bernardo Silva, another left-footed right winger with less high-level experience and worse stats.

At 25 years old, Salah is mature enough that he’ll be expected to produce right away, but young enough that he is unlikely to decline physically before his contract expires. Liverpool has paid a reasonable fee for an excellent player at the right age.

The right inside forward market is drying up

City and Liverpool had to pay a minor premium for Silva and Salah because of how specific their skill sets are, but they probably got off easy. There just aren’t that many great left-footed right forwards who offer both playmaking and goal-scoring ability. The other big-name one on the market — Douglas Costa — is less productive than both of them and has spent most of his career on the left wing. And yet, whichever team pays £35-plus million for his services will be very happy with what they get.

If your team is in the market for a player like Salah, they have a few options. There’s Hakim Ziyech from Ajax, who will be less expensive than the premium players, but carries much higher risk for a big European club. There’s Riyad Mahrez, a safe £30 million signing who won’t be as good as Salah, but won’t be a huge letdown either. Or you can throw down about £60 million for James Rodriguez, who will sell a lot of shirts but ultimately produce roughly the same amount as Salah, if not less.

All of those options sound like worse value than Salah, right? That’s because they are! Roma probably screwed up by not holding out for more money, because there are people who work for Liverpool that figured out what the market for right inside forwards looked like long before I did. They would have paid more. And now other teams will have to pay the same amount or more for inferior players.