Just when everyone thought Liverpool needed to tighten their defense, with their entire backline albeit Joel Matip needing an upgrade, they go and sign a forward and a winger. Well done Kloppo!! But consider this, Liverpool scored the least number of goals (21) amongst last season’s top 4 Premier League clubs after 60 minutes. Chelsea, Spurs and City scored 36, 32 and 30 goals between 60 and 90 minutes respectively. Chelsea gained a massive 19 points from their late game surges. Liverpool gained only one. The Reds just did not seem to be showing that fight towards the end. But this was more due to want of legs than effort.

When you need your forwards to press the opposition defense as well as run at them when they have the ball, maybe they get tired, maybe they need to be substituted, maybe some fresh legs that can run as well is needed and maybe Klopp does know what he is doing. Enter Mohamed Salah.

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What does Salah bring to the table?

Though predominantly a right winger, Salah has the capability to play anywhere in Liverpool’s front 3 and that adds dynamism to an already fluid attack. Salah scored 15 goals and provided 11 assists at Roma. That is more than each one of Firmino, Coutinho and Mane. He made 2.3 key passes per game, which is just below Coutinho and more than Firmino and Mane. Liverpool had 36% of their attacks down the right, while only 15% of the shots came from the right. Salah’s 2.6 shots per game might balance Liverpool’s attacks better. Defensively, Salah made 0.8 tackles and 0.6 Clearances, Blocks and Interceptions combined per game. Looks to on par if not better than Mane.

What does this transfer mean for Draft Fantasy Football Managers?

Liverpool’s fastest drafted player last season was Firmino with his average draft position at 26. This was even after their three forwards ranking in the top 15 for average fantasy football points per game. For Comparison Mkhitaryan was drafted at 21 though his average fantasy football points per game was at least 2 less than Firmino. Share of spoils at Liverpool could be the reason for this and Salah can make it only worse.

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Last season, Firmino was the most owned Liverpool player with 88.7% of the people choosing him. While he was closely followed by Coutinho (83.9%), only 66.8% of the people owned Mane. Salah could further reduce that number. But do not expect Liverpool players’ position in the draft to change a lot. They are a team and no one individual gets all the attention.