As speculation continues to persist over the futures of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane at Anfield, Liverpool may soon be in the market for a new attacking player.
Salah is set to enter the final 12 months of his deal at the club and there is no sign of any progress on a new deal, although he did confirm ahead of the Champions League final that he would be at Liverpool next season.
Mane has continued to send cryptic hints regarding his future and the ECHO understands he wants to leave the club, with Bayern Munich favourites for his signature. Currently on international duty with Senegal, he added further question marks to his future when speaking on Friday ahead of his country’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Benin. Mane said: “Isn't it between 60 to 70% of Senegalese want me to leave Liverpool? I will do what they want. We will see soon! The future will tell us.”
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One player who has been linked as a potential Mane replacement is Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic. The Daily Mail reported earlier this week that the attacking midfielder is a target for Jurgen Klopp’s side with Pulisic ‘frustrated by his lack of starts under Thomas Tuchel’.
The speculation has only been further enhanced by German transfer expert Christian Falk confirming the Reds’ interest. On Sunday morning he tweeted: “TRUE. @LFC is interested in Christian Pulisic (23) as replacement for Sadio Mane (@FCBayern) @ChelseaFC.”
The prospect of Pulisic at Anfield is one that could easily be dismissed by Liverpool fans but there is an intriguing backstory. Klopp has a past relationship with the player having been the manager who promoted him to train with Borussia Dortmund’s senior squad shortly after he arrived at their academy during the 2014/15 season.
Klopp had to watch him blossom from afar as he burst onto the scene at Dortmund. In fact, during the Liverpool manager’s first summer at Anfield, the Reds failed with an £11m bid for the Pennsylvania-born player.
Klopp has often expressed his admiration for Pulisic. There was a warm embrace between the two when Liverpool faced Dortmund in a pre-season friendly in the States during the summer of 2018 - a game in which Pulisic scored twice as the Reds succumbed to a 3-1 defeat.
After that game, Klopp was full of praise for his former player. He said: “If Christian would at one point join us, I don’t know. I have known him since he was a kid and he’s still not really old. He’s a fantastic player and it’s deserved that people think highly of him in America and in Germany it’s the same. If he wants to play in England one day or whatever and he, for sure, has the chance to do so.”
With Klopp’s history and comments, Liverpool were strong favourites to sign Pulisic before his £58m transfer to Chelsea in January 2019. Pulisic scored 19 times in 127 appearances for Dortmund.
However, partly due to the price, which the Reds felt was prohibitive, and the impressive early impact of Xherdan Shaqiri, they didn’t make a move. Shaqiri had joined for £12.5m the previous summer and had scored six goals in 11 starts for the Reds at the time. This included a match-winning double against Manchester United.
Similarly, Mane, Salah and Roberto Firmino were operating at ridiculously high levels. Ironically, this was at a time when they had all signed new long-term contracts - the same deals that are causing the Reds such headaches at the moment. As a result, the Reds were reluctant to move for Pulisic. The American was also seen more as potential than proven quality with Klopp unwilling to spend so much on a squad player.
The decision to pass up on the American could be seen as justified, with Pulisic having flattered to deceive since his move to Stamford Bridge. He is no doubt a player who can provide quality but has struggled with consistency.
His ability to play in numerous positions - whether that be across the front line, or even at wing-back, as he did for Tuchel’s side last year is an attractive trait. This is especially the case if he was to fill the void left by Mane.
But he has failed to establish himself as a regular starter at Chelsea. Across all competitions, in his three seasons at the club, Pulisic has scored 25 goals and added 19 assists in 115 appearances - not a bad record but only 75 of these have been starts.
His first year at the club was his best campaign, with 11 goals and 10 assists in just 27 starts. This included his finest spell in Chelsea colours in the post-lockdown resumption of football. Pulisic scored four and assisted four goals in nine games during as Frank Lampard’s Chelsea qualified for the Champions League.
Injuries have also held the American back at times but there have been examples of his talents and he is only 23. He also scored against Liverpool during January’s 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Pulisic clearly has huge respect for Liverpool and he started both the Carabao and FA Cup final. In the run-up to the Carabao Cup final he heaped praise on Salah.
“He’s an incredible player,” he told ESPN. "As far as the Premier League goes this season, he has generally been up there with the best. There's definitely a lot to look up to and I can learn from him. He's a great goal-scorer, really strong, he does a lot of things well that people don't even realise to get him into position to score these goals. He's someone I can learn from.”
While Pulisic perhaps wouldn’t be Liverpool fans’ number one target this summer, if Mane is to leave, he would be an intriguing addition. His age, tactical flexibility, past relationship with Klopp, along with Liverpool's previous interest are all factors that weigh in his favour.
