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When Mohamed Salah finally brought his 210 word farewell speech to a close, confirming he would leave Liverpool at the end of the season last week Tuesday, it felt less like an announcement and more like a moment suspended in emotion.
Not just for him, but for a fanbase that has spent years watching him define an era. There was a heaviness to it, the kind that lingers, the kind that tells you something significant is ending, even before the final goodbye arrives.
Mohamed Salah is leaving Liverpool ?
— Bet9ja: The home of #betBOOM! ? (@Bet9jaOfficial) March 25, 2026
But where is he REALLY going next? ?
Truth be told, the signs had been there for a while. The tension that simmered earlier in the campaign never quite disappeared, particularly around the period where Salah openly questioned his situation. That interview then revealed a player who felt undervalued, a player who believed he still had more to give and did not quite understand why he was being put on the bench. Remember?
A January exit felt like a genuine possibility. It didn’t happen though.
But now, the inevitable has caught up.
This summer will not just mark a transfer. It will close a chapter, one that has been building towards this conclusion, quietly at first, then all at once.
So now, the big question.
Who steps into Mohamed Salah’s shoes, and more importantly, who even can?
Salah isn’t just leaving a gap. He’s leaving an identity.
Salah, at his peak, just felt inevitable. You knew what was coming, that little shift inside onto his left foot, and still, more often than not, nothing could be done about it. It became familiar to the point where it almost felt normal, which is crazy when you think about it. Season after season, it was the same story, goals, assists, big moments, trophies. He made something incredibly difficult look routine.
And that is what Liverpool will really miss. Not just the goals, even though 255 in 435 games speaks for itself, with 281 goal contributions in 301 games so far since the 2016/17 season, but that feeling of certainty. In tight games, when things were not quite clicking, there was always that sense that something could still happen on that right side. You did not always know how, but you trusted that it would come, just because Salah was on the pitch.
The plain truth is that it is very hard to replace players these days, because every player brings something different. Expecting one person to come in and simply replace Salah would only pile unnecessary pressure on whoever arrives at the club.
Even Jürgen Klopp, who coached Salah for so many years at Liverpool, admitted it himself, Salah is irreplaceable.
“This specific kind of player is irreplaceable,” Klopp told reporters at a special LFC Foundation event before Saturday’s charity match between Liverpool Legends and Borussia Dortmund Legends at Anfield.
“There will be a void that somebody will fill. But the specific player, Mo Salah? I’m not sure there is even another one existing out there. There are other people playing on that wing with different strengths, different qualities, but it is the numbers he produces, they’re unmatched from that position,” as reported by The Athletic UK.
That’s not some sort of sentiment from Klopp, but reality.
So, the idea of a like-for-like replacement is, frankly, misguided.
So a more immediate, more tangible question is whether Liverpool still need to sign a winger?
The answer seems to be yes.
Some names have already been linked with the club, the likes of Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise and RB Leipzig’s Yann Diomande, especially considering he is still young and has a long career ahead of him.
It also remains to be seen whether Arne Slot decides to tweak his approach and move away from traditional wing play. After all, Liverpool have two strikers in Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak, and there is the possibility of reshaping the system or even adapting certain players to fit that role.
There is also the option of recalling Harvey Elliott, who is currently on loan at Aston Villa. He has shown what he can offer whenever he has been called upon, but the move was largely about getting more consistent playing time.
For Liverpool as a whole, this feels like the beginning of something new, whether they are ready for it or not.
Salah’s story at Anfield will be remembered as one of relentless excellence. A player who arrived as a very good winger and leaves as one of the greatest players in the club’s history.
Replacing that is never possible.
The real challenge is learning to live without it.
