Mo Salah suggests £35m Liverpool forward is good enough to play in midfield

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Liverpool star Mohamed Salah has suggested that teammate Cody Gakpo could play in midfield for the club.

Speaking to Stadium Astro, Salah was asked about his new Dutch teammate.

The versatile forward was signed by Liverpool in January for £35m from PSV Eindhoven.

He didn’t hit the ground running, although his introduction coincided with a poor run of form for Liverpool.

In recent weeks, both the club and Cody Gakpo have been playing at a much higher level.

They’ve narrowly missed out on the Champions League and reinforcements are needed in the summer.

The main position Jurgen Klopp will be looking to improve is central midfield.

He’s losing James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and Arthur Melo at the end of the season.

Even though none of these players are normally first choice, all of a sudden, they’ve lost plenty of depth.

Salah has suggested that Gakpo could play in midfield if required given his skill set as a player.

He admits he likes to drop deep to pick up the ball and therefore shouldn’t be under as much pressure to score goals.

Salah suggests Gakpo as a midfield option for Liverpool

Asked about the Dutch international, Salah said: “He’s kind of like Bobby, he likes to drop deep and sometimes he plays like a number eight so you can’t really blame him for that.

“He knows how to play football that’s for sure and I’m not concerned if he doesn’t score.

“As long as the team is winning he’s going to score anyway. I always speak to him, he’s a really clever guy and he always wants to learn.

“I always tell him, ‘Don’t listen, just play your football, don’t worry if people talk about whether you score or not, it doesn’t matter’.”

Liverpool have plenty of forward options which could allow Klopp to drop Gakpo into midfield as Salah suggested.

Given the recent transformation of Trent Alexander-Arnold in that role, Klopp has shown he’s willing to be flexible with players’ positions.

At 24, he’s still got plenty of time to keep improving and learning new skills.

It would be a surprise to see Gakpo drop deeper any time soon, but it’s a testament to his ability that Salah thinks he’s capable of playing that role.