Salah: Best option to replace Messi at Barcelona – McManaman
Ex-Liverpool star, Steve McManaman, has recommended Mohamed Salah, as the best option to replace Lionel Messi at FC Barcelona.
Salah’s future has been the subject of speculation in recent months, with Real Madrid and Barcelona keeping tabs on the forward.
In recent years the two Spanish giants have been able to lure Liverpool’s best players to La Liga with relative ease: Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano, Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho among the stars who have made the switch.
But last year the football world saw a power shift. While Barcelona and Real Madrid failed to impress in the Champions League, two English clubs in the form of Liverpool and Tottenham reached the final.
Real Madrid and Barcelona appear to be going through a transitional period, with the old guard compromised of Sergio Ramos, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and, of course, Lionel Messi, reaching the end of their careers.
Meanwhile, Los Blancos have been unable to replace Cristiano Ronaldo, something Barcelona will be acutely aware of as Messi continues to age.
Someone like Salah could be the marquee signing the Nou Camp club needs to remain at the pinnacle of world football once Messi hangs up his boots.
But McManaman believes the two things – Messi’s career winding down, and Barcelona’s chances of signing Salah – will impact one another.
Barcelona’s allure comes from the fact they win trophies, and Messi is a large reason as to why the Spaniard’s dominated for so long.
Currently, Liverpool appears to be a better place in which to win trophies.
And it is for this reason that McManaman feels this soon-to-be-without-Messi-Barcelona side is starting to lose its appeal, and that Salah will stay put.
“I see his future at Liverpool, to be honest,” wrote McManaman, in his HorseRacing column.
“Regarding this whole aura about Real Madrid and Barcelona, I think players are consistently linked with them because they were both considered the best sides in the world back in the day, however, the best sides are now in the Premier League.
“Four or five years ago everybody was saying ‘Real Madrid, Real Madrid, Real Madrid’ because they were winning things and they and Barcelona were winning the Champions League every other year.
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“The best teams in Europe now are in England, so I don’t understand the premise of why you need to go to La Liga at the minute.