Forget Mohamed Salah - Liverpool's £60m next superstar is staring them in the face

Nothing lasts forever; not Jurgen Klopp’s tenure at Anfield, not Mohamed Salah’s bouncing mane of ringlets, perhaps not even Mohamed Salah himself. (Didn’t mean that to sound quite as morbid as it did; we’re only talking about his prospective Liverpool exit here, not his untimely demise.)

You see, with every passing transfer window, it feels as if the likelihood of the Egyptian King abdicating from his throne grows a little more. Rapidly approaching his 32nd birthday, and now navigating the choppy waters of a change in manager amid a slew of speculation linking him (again) with a possible transfer to Saudi Arabia, Salah is neither as youthful nor as cemented in his footing on Merseyside as he once was.

Indeed, ask the oracle Mark Lawrenson, and he’ll tell you that an exit is already written in the tea leaves. Speaking recently, the pundit said: "I have a feeling that Mohamed Salah will go. I just think that Saudi Arabia would be the logical place for him to move to. He’s not been the same since he came back from AFCON and you could see towards the end of the season that he seemed a little bit miffed – he just didn’t seem to be the same player.

"If Liverpool could get £100 million for him from the Saudi Pro League, I think I would take it considering the circumstances. Salah’s been absolutely brilliant for Liverpool over the years, but he looks like he might need a change of club and I personally wouldn’t get in the way of that out of respect for him."

But the question then would be how Liverpool go about replacing their talismanic attacking presence. The answer might be as simple as ‘Pedro Neto’.

The Wolves winger has been touted for a departure from Molineux for some time now, with the Reds, as well as the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City, frequently mentioned as entrenched admirers of his work. This is entirely understandable; while injuries have hampered the 24-year-old in recent months, there is no denying that when he is fit and firing, there are few wide players in the Premier League who can match his ball-carrying abilities, or his rate of creative output. Across 24 appearances in all competitions this season, or more accurately, 1,729 minutes of football, Neto registered 11 assists and three goals - equivalent to one contribution every 123 minutes or so. Transplant him into a side of Liverpool’s calibre, and you would only expect that figure to improve further still.

According to The Telegraph, if Wolves are to sell this summer, they will demand a fee in the region of £60 million or so, but that could ultimately prove to be a smart investment for a player who has averaged the same number of key passes per 90 minutes as Salah this season, as well as completing almost three times as many successful dribbles per game, as per Whoscored.

Factor in Neto’s versatility, as well as the fact that he is still yet to properly enter his prime, and there is a strong argument to be made for him being an acquisition capable of making a positive impact for Liverpool in the here and now, as well as carrying them forward for years to come. The Wolves man may well be the answer to the Reds’ post-Salah conundrum.