Liverpool Identify $37M Dortmund Target As Replacement If Salah Leaves Club: Report
Liverpool FC are reportedly planning to sign Netherlands striker Donyell Malen if Mohamed Salah leaves the Anfield side this summer.
Despite scoring 27 goals and 10 assists in the 2020-21 season for PSV Eindhoven, Malen has been put on the market and Liverpool have opened talks with the player in the ongoing summer market, according to Dutch media outlet Voetbal International.
Eindhoven have labeled Malen at a transfer fee of around $37 million, according to the soccer website Teamtalk.
Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp is set to rival his former club Borussia Dortmund in the race to sign 22-year-old Malen, according to Sky Sports Germany. Dortmund are seeing Malen as an ideal replacement for Jadon Sancho, who is linked with a move away from the Signal Iduna Park this summer.
Sancho has agreed to personal terms with Manchester United but a final agreement between the two clubs is yet to be reached. The young midfielder has been one of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s top targets for over a year.
Salah, who has top-score for Liverpool in every season since his arrival from Roma in the summer of 2017, is facing uncertainly over his future at Anfield following a disappointing season. While Salah, who had earlier admitted that he would like to play for clubs such as FC Barcelona and Real Madrid at some point, has another two years left in his current deal with Liverpool.
He is one of the most crucial members of the Klopp-managed side that has won the Champions League, Premier League, FIFA Club World Cup, and Super Cup over the last two years.
Photo: POOL / Laurence Griffiths
Having made 203 appearances, across all tournaments, Salah has netted 125 goals and provided as many as 47 assists.
If Salah leaves, Klopp hopes that the void could be filled by a talented striker like Malen. The striker rose through the young ranks at Ajax and Arsenal before making his senior debut with Eindhoven in 2017. So far, Malen has made 116 competitive appearances for the Holland club, scoring 55 goals and 24 assists. He was one of Eindhoven’s best even in 2020-21, however, it was not enough to help his side challenge Ajax for the title.
