Liverpool have started 2024 with vicious intent, dispatching Newcastle United 4-2 in the Premier League before travelling to London to face Arsenal in the FA Cup with a weakened squad and prevailing, thus still in contention across all four fronts this season.
Indeed, with a double-legged Carabao Cup semi-final tie against Fulham forthcoming and a place in the last-16 of the Europa League, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will be delighted with his team's progress, cherry-topping their ascent with top spot in the English top-flight after 20 matches.
It's a good start and a continuation of the seasonal resurgence after last year's malaise, and the victory at the Emirates is perhaps especially galvanising given world-class talisman Mohamed Salah's absence at the African Cup of Nations.
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Liverpool will have to contend without the Egyptian machine over the next month and this is possibly an overture of sorts to a future without the 31-year-old.
It's almost unthinkable, but it's something that Klopp and his club will have to deal with at some point, what's important is that he is replaced with a star capable of dominating in the Liverpool frontline.
Liverpool transfer news – Kylian Mbappe
According to Spanish reports, Real Madrid remain the favourites in the endless soap opera that is the Kylian Mbappe transfer saga, with the Paris Saint-Germain star out of contract at the end of the season.
2015/16
14
1
2
2016/17
44
26
14
2017/18
46
21
16
2018/19
43
39
17
2019/20
37
30
18
2020/21
47
42
11
2021/22
46
39
26
2022/23
43
41
10
Mbappe is valued at £113m by Football Transfers and while he would be available on a free, would certainly not come cheap, but Los Blancos' financial security is not at its zenith right now, and Liverpool could reportedly move to secure his services with an audacious approach over the coming months.
Kylian Mbappe's rise to prominence
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has already pronounced Mbappe as "the best player in European football" and while this is subjective, it's a brave supporter to make the argument that he does not have a seat at the table when discussing football's cream of the crop.
Joining PSG in a staggering £166m move from AS Monaco in 2018 – having spent the 2017/18 campaign on loan with the Parisien giants – the Frace international has long been regarded as one of the most destructive attacking forces around, surprisingly winning Ligue 1 as a teenager and racking up 26 goals and 14 assists across all competitions, naturally.
Invariably deadly when darting up the lanes and into the final third, the 25-year-old Mbappe has since enjoyed an illustrious career and has won honours in their abundance in his homeland – with the 2018 World Cup with Les Bleus to boot – and with the Champions League still eluding him it is perhaps time to make the move away from the Parc des Prices.
Across 282 appearances for PSG, the 75-cap France star has scored 233 goals and provided 100 assists for his teammates, instrumental and central to all of the riches reaped over the past several years – described as a "generational talent" by scout Jacek Kulig.
Remarked to be an "alien" by Poland player Piotr Zielinski for his past escapades on the international stage, Mbappe thrives both as the focal frontman and out on the left side of the attack, with his devastating speed and dribbling prowess enough to leave Europe's most formidable defenders in a tangle.
To emphasise this point, Mbappe ranks among the top 4% of forwards across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for goals, the top 1% for shots taken, the top 3% for shot-creating actions, the top 5% for passes attempted and progressive passes, the top 1% for progressive carries and the top 4% for successful take-ons per 90, as per FBref.
Having been embroiled in something of a contractual stalemate last summer, there was a point when PSG, who sought to sell their prized asset to Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal and accepted a jaw-dropping £259m offer (which would have been a world-record), but Mbappe was not enticed by the opulence and even appeared willing to remain in Paris and sit on the periphery.
Alas, it's all worked out okay, with Mbappe plundering 25 goals from just 24 matches this term; endowed with such a celestial level of offensive power, the £1.19m-per-week machine would be quite the acquisition for Liverpool, and surely the best option to succeed Salah in the Liverpool frontline.
How Kylian Mbappe compares to Mohamed Salah
Salah and Mbappe are not like-for-like players, preferring alternate flanks, but the signing of such an incredible player would compensate for Salah's possible sale, with the 31-year-old out of contract in 2025 and attracting a lot of attention from Saudi Arabia.
On transfer deadline day last summer, Al-Ittihad lodged an official offer of £150m for Liverpool's star man but were rebuffed, though if a contract extension cannot be agreed, there will be little choice but to cash in at the end of the current campaign.
Salah, who signed for Liverpool from AS Roma for £34m in 2017, has cemented his legacy as one of the Premier League's finest-ever forwards and boasts
This season, he has 18 goals and nine assists from 27 appearances and has been ever-immense, crafting and finishing chances with remarkable constancy to charge Liverpool's title challenge.
Matches played
16
20
Goals
1.22
0.73
Assists
0.14
0.41
Shots taken
5.07
3.06
Shots on target %
41%
44%
Shot-creating actions
4.26
4.55
Progressive passes
5.00
5.13
Progressive carries
4.93
3.58
Successful take-ons
2.64
0.88
It's interesting to place the respective skill sets together, side by side, given the dominance that each player emits with every stride that they take on the pitch.
While Salah is more creative than Mbappe, the Frenchman is far more energetic and active as a marauder, with such a set of skills only sure to wreak havoc in the Premier League,
Of course, there is something of a disparity in quality between French and English top-flight football, and it's interesting to consider what the tables would look like if the tables were turned, but there's no disputing that Mbappe is a prodigy in front of goal and would bring a rate of scoring that could even surpass what Salah has achieved at Anfield.
Nonetheless, Mbappe is a world-class talent, and while a move to Merseyside might seem implausible, there is a chance, a sliver of hope, that Klopp could pull off a signing that would send shockwaves across European football.