5 new signings likely to flop in the 2017/18 Premier League season

#5 Mohamed Salah

It's a little hard to see where Mohamed Salah will fit in at Liverpool

Moving from Roma for an initial £36m, Liverpool’s new record signing Mohamed Salah – eclipsing Andy Carroll, who moved for £35m in 2011 – is hoping that this time his career in the Premier League will really take off. After all, he’s been here before – he signed for Chelsea during the January transfer window in 2013/14 but flopped at the London club, making just 13 appearances before moving to Fiorentina and then Roma, initially on loan deals before making a permanent move at the start of last season.

It could be argued that his career at Chelsea was simply hampered by a lack of opportunities – the Blues signed him from under the nose of Liverpool back then, after he’d helped Basel to shoot them down – but although he played excellently during his time in Italy and rebuilt his damaged reputation, it may be much harder for him to succeed at Anfield than some people are expecting.

Firstly Serie A is a great league, but it’s much less physical than the Premier League and while Salah’s pace and dribbling skills are impressive, there are question marks over whether he can cope with the stronger tackles put in by Premier League defenders. Then there are the issues over where exactly he fits in – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has preferred to use almost a diamond attacking formation, with Roberto Firmino at the tip, Philippe Coutinho on the left, Sadio Mane on the right, and Adam Lallana attacking from a deeper position.

Given those four players were phenomenal in 2016/17, it’s difficult to see who Salah will supplant; he seems best from the right, but Mane was fantastic in his first Liverpool season and will be hard to push out. Salah’s Egyptian countryman Mido has already predicted that the £36m man will flop due to the higher tempo and physicality of the Premier League, and he could well be proven right.