Will Liverpool rival Real Madrid for Kylian Mbappé if Mohamed Salah leaves Anfield?

The Saudi Pro League has completely revolutionised the transfer market in 2023 and intends to do so for a good while longer. Two players who didn’t move to the Gulf state despite a huge offers coming in, however, were Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah and PSG superstar Kylian Mbappé.

Saudi Arabia fails to tempt Salah and Mbappé

The Premier League giants flatly refused to sell their star man, despite Al Ittihad putting in a bid of over €200 million ($214 million), but now find themselves in a delicate position with the Egyptian coming towards the end of his contract. Mbappé, meanwhile, didn’t even want to speak to Al Hilal, despite his club’s best efforts to move him on after he refused to commit his future to them.

Liverpool could lose Salah for free

Liverpool want Salah to stay and extend his deal, but they have so far been unable to persuade him to do so. If nothing changes, they will be forced to sell him to Saudi Arabia - or somewhere else - next summer, or face losing him for free in 2025. The Athletic have drawn up an ambitious list of possible “galáctico” replacements, at the top of which is Mbappé, who, it seems, has his heart set on moving to Real Madrid.

But should the France captain not sign a new contract in Paris, Liverpool will try to sign him next summer using the money made from Salah’s potential departure, although Los Blancos are unlikely to give them a free run.

Real Madrid target Mbappé's Liverpool talks

The six-time European champions have previously been linked with a move for the 24-year-old, who told British newspaper Daily Telegraph that he had spoken to the English club “a little bit” when he was still a teenager at Monaco. Mbappé also revealed that his mother, who also acts as his agent, “loves” Liverpool, suggesting that if there is one club that could prise him away from what seems to be an inevitable switch to Real Madrid, it is the Merseysiders.

With Salah’s tendency to play from the right, Mbappé, who normally plays off the left, wouldn’t be a like-for-like replacement and his arrival would require some rejigging in attack. But how often does the chance to sign a player who has scored almost 300 career goals before the age of 25 come along?