Journalist: LFC have a "substantial budget" to sign attacker; PSG unsure of Mbappe's intentions

Liverpool have a substantial budget to sign a forward this summer, Duncan Castles reports, with the club looking for an attacker with the same profile as Mohamed Salah.

Speaking on the latest episode of his The Transfer Window Podcast, Castles said: “My information is that Liverpool have a budget to sign a striker who can also play out wide in the summer window, and it’s a substantial budget. And they’re looking for a player of similar type to Mohamed Salah.

“Now, I’m not saying that means Salah is leaving. I’m just saying that Liverpool are doing the preparatory work to sign a player of his type. And we’ve talked in recent podcasts about the possibility that it’s not just the Spanish clubs that would look at signing Salah.

“It’s also Paris Saint-Germain, who are in the market for another forward [and) don’t know what Kylian Mbappe is going to do. And there is an attraction within the ownership of the club – the club being owned and run by Qatar to sign the most successful Arabic speaking player of his generation, just ahead of their World Cup.”

In recent times, Salah has seemed a bit agitated and has done more interviews with newspapers in the last couple months than he conducted in the first three and a half years with the club.

Most recently, when asked by Spanish newspaper Marca if he thinks it's time to move on from Liverpool, he said: "It's not up to me. We'll see what happens but I prefer not to talk about that now."

A follow-up question probed his desire to play in Spain, to which he responded: "I hope to be able to play for many more years. Why not? No one knows what's going to happen in the future, so... maybe one day, yes."

After a poor season in which Mohamed Salah has carried Liverpool's attack with his 29 goal contributions, it seems as though it would be negligent to consider selling him.

Yet, even though the Egyptian suggests his future is out of his hands, if he pushed for a move, he'd get it and from the way he's been posturing recently, it seems as though a move to one of Barcelona or Real Madrid is on his mind.

Do Liverpool want to sign the current Mo Salah or the 2017 Mo Salah?

As far as Liverpool and their plans to sign a player in his mould are concerned, it would be interesting to find out if they want to sign a readymade star or someone about to hit their peak as they did with Salah in 2017.

Liverpool could move for someone like Patson Daka if they wanted an exciting player just about to grow into a thrilling player or they could move for someone like Kylian Mbappe or Erling Haaland.

Castles mentioned that PSG are unsure of Mbappe's intentions while simultaneously open to the idea of signing Salah, the 'most successful Arabic speaking player of his generation'.

While the ideal scenario would be to hold onto Salah and sign Mbappe, if the Egyptian does leave, the Anfield outfit cannot afford to not replace him with a player with similar talents and the obvious replacement is Mbappe.

His ability to play and score from the wing while also just as efficient as a number nine is something Jurgen Klopp would love.