Bullet dodged: Liverpool luckily avoided £82m transfer blunder | OneFootball

Liverpool reportedly had Antony in mind as a potential transfer target to replace Mohamed Salah while he was still at Ajax back in the summer of 2022.

Antony looked an exciting young talent during his period in the Eredivisie, and perhaps things could have continued to go well for him if he’d ended up at Anfield rather than Manchester United.

Still, as per the Times, it seems Liverpool didn’t follow their interest up at that time, with Antony instead making the move to Old Trafford for a whopping £82million.

Barring a remarkable turnaround for Antony under new United manager Ruben Amorim in the coming weeks, it’s safe to say the Brazil international is likely to go down as one of the all-time most spectacular Premier League flops.

Antony in Man United training (Photo by Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)

Liverpool’s former manager Jurgen Klopp may well have got more out of the player, but for now Reds fans will just be breathing a big sigh of relief that this deal didn’t happen.

Instead, LFC kept Salah and he’s continued to be a world class performer for the club, though of course they still have some issues to resolve there as he’s nearing the end of his contract.

Who could Liverpool look to as a replacement for Mo Salah now?

Salah will be extremely difficult for Liverpool to replace, so it’s clear the Merseyside giants will need to do all they can to persuade the Egypt international to commit to a new deal.

Failing that, their recruitment team will also need to do a lot better with their talent ID than picking out another player like Antony, who has struggled badly in English football.

The 24-year-old is no longer a regular in the United first-team, and one imagines he might be on his way out of the club soon.

That could still be a bit of a worry for Liverpool, though, as it could mean United are also in the market for a new winger who’d be exactly what Arne Slot needs if he ends up with a Salah-shaped gap to plug.