Liverpool need ‘uncomfortable conversation’ with Mo Salah as Slot is told to AXE star – Exclusive | OneFootball

Liverpool have not made a mistake in spending huge sums on Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak and were all necessary signings for safeguarding the club’s future – but a former Reds star has suggested the triple deal could soon to Mo Salah being squeezed out at Anfield.

The Premier League champions decided to capitalise on their position of strength by making a series of big-money summer signings and try and create what they hoped would be the start of a trophy dynasty at Anfield. But just three months into the season, Liverpool are already out of the Carabao Cup and are an alarming eight points adrift of Arsenal in the title race.

With many people now suggesting the raft of investments has been a case of too much, too soon, serious questions have also been asked of the wisdom of signing the likes of Isak and Wirtz, with the £241m (€273m, $357m) pair yet to deliver any sort of returns on that investment.

However, in an exclusive interview with TEAMtalk, former Reds midfielder Don Hutchison explained why all three signings were necessary – and believes the trio will really start to come into their own when Salah departs for the African Cup of Nations duty with Egypt next month.

“No, I don’t think they’ll think they’ve wasted money on signing Isak,” Hutchison, who also had strong words of transfer advice for his another former sides, West Ham, told us.

And to accommodate all three and get them playing to their best, Hutchison thinks the Reds’ all-time third top scorer, Salah, could be the man to be ushered out.

“The uncomfortable conversation will be around the likes of Mo Salah because there’s a way to get Ekitike, Isak and Wirtz into the same team, but it means there’s no place for Salah.

“You can have [Milos] Kerkez on the left and [Conor] Bradley on the right as wing-backs. Then you have Szoboszlai and Gravenberch in midfield.”

Liverpool need ‘uncomfortable conversation’ with Salah

Hutchison, who played for the Reds between 1991 and 1994, believes the upcoming AFCON could be the perfect time for the Reds to start phasing Salah out and planning for life after the Egyptian, who only signed a new two-year deal at Anfield in April, but will be almost 34 by the time the current season draws to a close.

“If you want to put a positive spin on it, every team in the Premier League would love Wirtz, Isak and Salah. Now Slot’s job is trying to come up with a formula to get all those three into the same 11, with Ekitike, because you can’t spend all that money on Wirtz, Isak and Ekitike and tell them to fight for their place in the side. They have to be starters now.

I would be very tempted to play all three from now to the end of the season and play their way into form, into goals, into chemistry, into improving the league position. I know it’s a big jump from now to the end of season, but that will be Liverpool’s team and individuals going forward. That’s what I would look at.

“So the uncomfortable conversation is around why and how you don’t get Mo Salah into that team anymore. Perhaps the Africa Cup of Nations would be the time to try it!”

Latest Liverpool news: Semenyo transfer chances revealed; Harvey Elliott recall truths

In the wake of Liverpool’s hectic summer spree, Jamie Carragher has warned Slot he needed to be a bit more clever in his transfer thinking and suggests his efforts to bring ‘sexy football’ to Anfield have completely backfired, and having torn into the Dutchman’s failure to see which way the game in England was going.

Meanwhile, Harvey Elliott’s rapidly declining minutes at Aston Villa has seen speculation aired about the possibility of a recall by parent club Liverpool in January – but an update from James Pearce has confirmed why that is not possible, and having revealed what will happen next.

Elsewhere, Liverpool have learned their chances of a January move for Antoine Semenyo amid strong new claims that he asked to leave Bournemouth ahead of the winter window, while further details can be provided on the player’s release clause.