Liverpool’s former director of research, Ian Graham, has revealed that Jurgen Klopp wasn’t initially convinced about signing Mohamed Salah.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Ian Graham said Jurgen Klopp’s top target in the summer of 2017 was Julian Brandt, then a rising star at Bayer Leverkusen. The German manager, familiar with Brandt from his time in the Bundesliga, had doubts about Salah, who was coming off a strong 19-goal season with Roma.
“Jurgen’s preferred option for that summer was Julian Brandt,” Graham explained.
“Jurgen knew the German market very well. We agreed Brandt was a very good young player, but not a standout in the same way that Mo was.”
Graham continued that from a data perspective, Salah was unmatched at the time.
“From our data analysis point of view, Mo Salah was the best young wide forward in Europe, full stop. Roma were under pressure to sell, so we knew he was available for a good price, and he fit the exact role we needed, wide forward. Brandt was more of an attacking midfielder.”
“It’s to Jurgen’s credit that he engaged in the debate in an honest way. He said, ‘OK, I’m open to be convinced, show me that Mo is better.’”
The rest as we know, is history. Salah joined Liverpool for around £36.5 million and went on to become one of the club’s greatest ever players, scoring 243 goals and adding 110 assists in 393 appearances to date.
Meanwhile, Brandt moved to Borussia Dortmund in 2019, where he’s enjoyed a decent career as an attacking midfielder, tallying 44 goals and 60 assists in 252 games, but never reaching the global stardom Salah has achieved at Anfield.