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Scottish Premier League-winning manager Alex McLeish believes Liverpool have an extremely "clever" recruitment strategy with respect to first-team transfers.
The Reds have signed several world class players in recent times. Many of these signings, including Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk and Fabinho, have helped them develop into a trophy-winning outfit once again. The club were also praised for the acquisition of Diogo Jota in 2020 and Luis Diaz in January this year.
Speaking about the Merseyside outfit's excellent recruitment system, McLeish told Football Insider:
“Liverpool are very clever. I read an article about them and the partnerships they have with teams abroad. It’s nothing that gets in the press.”
He believes that the club do their research well before bringing players in to ensure they fit in with the ideology and structure in place. On this, McLeish stated:
“They do their algorithms, they do the logarithms, they have perfected their ways of bringing players in. They know it’s very unlikely that any new signing’s going to fail. In that respect, they have that.”
However, the 63-year-old feels Liverpool will struggle to replace Salah should he depart Anfield. The Egyptian's current contract ends in 2023 and negotiations regarding an extension seem to have hit a roadblock. McLeish concluded:
“But new players, new, young players, are going to have to go some way to emulate the likes of Mo Salah. They will want to keep him until he retires.”
Liverpool have several players running out of contract in the near future
Much of Liverpool's success under Jurgen Klopp has been due to a core group of players who have consistently featured under the German. However, a chunk of these players are set to be out of contract in the next year or so.
While Salah's situation will ring the alarm bells the most at Anfield, it is worth noting that James Milner's contract ends this summer. The Englishman has been an exceptional player for the Reds since arriving in 2015.
Milner has made 280 appearances for the club across all competitions and has been deployed in a variety of positions. He has won the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and Carabao Cup with Klopp's side.
Among other players at Liverpool, both Mane and Roberto Firmino will also be out of contract in the summer of 2023. The two forwards, alongside Salah, have been among the club's best players under Klopp. The Reds run the risk of losing all three players in the near future.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita's deals will be up at the end of the 2022-23 season as well.
(Note: all contract details as per Transfermarkt)
