When Mohamed Salah leaves Liverpool this summer, he will do so as not only a club legend, but an icon of world football.
The Egyptian has become a genuine superstar across nine years with the Reds, and his exit will leave a gaping hole which is going to have to be filled.
While it is one thing to talk about replacing Salah on the pitch, Liverpool could also do with someone stepping up to make themselves the face of the club itself. According to former Reds Jason McAteer, Alexander Isak could be that player.
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Isak can take his spot as a Liverpool superstar
Liverpool certainly spent superstar money on Isak when they signed him from Newcastle in 2025. To this point, though, the Swede has not been able to justify the fee.
Injuries and a lack of match fitness have seen his reputation diminish in the wider footballing world.
Nevertheless, after seeing him score well against Crystal Palace on Saturday, McAteer has claimed that the No. 9 could be the next global face of Liverpool FC.
“I’d like him to be like ‘I’m here. I’m walking into the room and I’m here!'” the pundit told The Reaction from The Official Liverpool FC Podcast. “But if that’s not him, he’s going to have to find a different way to get himself into the arena and show everyone that he’s the centre-forward.”
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“Mo Salah’s leaving now, a superstar’s left the club. That’s vacating a big space at this football club because we’ve always had a superstar.
“You look at Kenny [Dalglish], Robbie [Fowler], Michael Owen took that for a little bit then it’s [Fernando] Torres, [Luis] Suarez, we’ve always had that superstar and Mo Salah’s been it for the last seven years.
“There is a space for that, we do need that player, it’s great for the club, great for everything around the business of the club, why not Isak?
“But he’s got to believe it,” McAteer added, “He’s got to believe that I’m the man here. I’m the man and I’m going to be Keegan, Dalglish, I’m going to be that person.”
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Liverpool have other superstar contenders
Liverpool will still have a global footballing icon in their team next season in the form of Virgil van Dijk.
However, it currently looks likely that the captain will depart in 2027, leaving a space open for some of Liverpool’s younger generation to step up.
Isak could certainly be that man, and after the fee they paid for him, the Reds would surely love that to be the case.
But the same can also be said for Florian Wirtz, who arguably has more ‘X factor’ than Isak when it comes to winning over the footballing masses.
Salah’s exit will rock Liverpool in more ways than one, but it does also present an opportunity for the likes of Isak, Wirtz or even Dominik Szoboszlai to take the club by the scruff of its neck and become the new hero.
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