Klopp’s Unlikely Salah Conversion: A Scouting Masterclass
Remember the summer of 2017? Liverpool was chasing targets, and the buzz around Anfield was palpable. Jurgen Klopp, as Gab Marcotti recently detailed, wasn't originally sold on Mohamed Salah. Klopp had his eyes on Julian Brandt, the German winger then tearing it up for Bayer Leverkusen. Brandt was a known quantity in the Bundesliga, a player Klopp understood intrinsically. He saw the tactical fit, the work rate, the German precision. Salah, by contrast, was coming off a strong but perhaps less celebrated spell at Roma, where he’d bagged 15 Serie A goals in the 2016-17 season.
The Data That Changed Everything
Here's the thing: Liverpool’s analytics department, led by Michael Edwards and his team, kept pushing Salah. They had the numbers. And these weren't just surface-level stats. They were diving deep into expected goals (xG), progressive carries, defensive contributions, and how Salah’s output compared to other wingers across Europe’s top five leagues. Salah's underlying metrics at Roma were screaming "elite." He wasn't just scoring; he was creating havoc, consistently getting into dangerous positions, and his finishing was remarkably efficient for a wide player. In that final Roma season, he provided 11 assists alongside his 15 goals, directly contributing to 26 goals in 31 league appearances. Brandt, while talented, didn't quite hit those same explosive numbers.
Klopp, a manager who values his gut feeling as much as any data point, needed convincing. Marcotti explained that it took a significant effort from the scouting and data analysis teams to sway him. They didn't just present raw data; they showed him video analysis, illustrating how Salah’s movement off the ball, his ability to exploit space, and his pace would perfectly complement Liverpool’s high-pressing, direct style. They painted a picture of a player who, despite his Chelsea struggles years prior, had matured into a world-class attacker. And frankly, the Reds needed goals; Roberto Firmino was a fantastic false nine, but the wide players needed to share the scoring load. Sadio Mané had arrived a year earlier and delivered 13 league goals, but Salah’s numbers suggested he could offer even more.
The Unforeseen Juggernaut
Liverpool eventually shelled out around £34 million for Salah, a fee that now looks like one of the biggest steals in modern football history. Brandt, for what it's worth, stayed at Leverkusen until 2019 before moving to Borussia Dortmund. He’s had a good career, but he’s no Salah. That first season, 2017-18, Salah shattered records, netting an astonishing 32 Premier League goals, winning the Golden Boot, and helping Liverpool reach the Champions League final. He scored in 24 different league games that season, a truly insane level of consistency. His debut campaign was a stark reminder that sometimes, the data guys know best, even when a top manager has a different vision.
It’s easy now to say "of course Salah was the right choice." But at the time, it was a genuine debate within the club. Klopp's initial preference for Brandt wasn't some egregious error; it was a natural inclination towards a player he knew better, a player who fit a certain mold in his mind. The real story here is the power of a well-integrated scouting and analytics department to challenge and ultimately change a manager's mind with compelling evidence. Without that internal push, Liverpool’s history over the last seven years might look very different.
My hot take? Without that Salah signing, Klopp likely never brings Liverpool a Premier League title in 2020 or the Champions League trophy in 2019. He was *that* foundational. And honestly, I think Liverpool's transfer committee deserves far more credit for their foresight than they've ever truly received.