"You’re talking twenty million a year": Former Liverpool midfielder says Reds made right choice between two attackers

Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy has backed Liverpool’s decision to let Sadio Mane go and reward Mohamed Salah with a new contract.

Mane joined German champions Bayern Munich last month for a fee of around £45m.

Meanwhile, Salah put pen to paper on a new long-term deal which will see him stay at Anfield until 2025.

But the former player turned pundit claimed keeping Salah makes ‘sense’ given his ridiculous output during his time at Liverpool.

Speaking to the Anfield Watch, he spoke about the transfer of Mane and why Liverpool have conducted shrewd business once again.

He said: “Dealing with Mane, I don’t think when a player has his eye on leaving there is that much choice in the matter.

"From a business point of view I think it’s really shrewd because if it’s the four hundred grand that has been reported, you’re talking twenty million a year.

"If you’re trying to bring in someone to replace the goals that Salah scores, then that’s going to cost a lot more than twenty million and that’s before you start on the wages. So keeping him makes sense.”

He arrived from Southampton in 2016 for £34million and has been a pivotal player for Jurgen Klopp, helping him to win their first league title in 30 years.

Mane scored 120 goals for the Reds and featured 269 times for Liverpool in his 7 years at the club.

Murphy also backed Liverpool’s planning and preparation with the signing of Luis Diaz in January of this year.

As well as the signing of Darwin Nunez too in what he described as ‘clever’ transfer business.

“Liverpool planned for it well, bringing in (Luis) Diaz before Mane left, and he is ultimately the guy who will play the majority of the games on the left. He has very simple traits in many ways with that wonderful tenacity and skillset.” He claimed.

“So that was clever, and now bringing in Darwin Nunez means they still have competition for places as well as replacing Mane’s goals output that was such a huge factor in Liverpool’s success.”

He also backed Salah to continue his high level of output, underlining his true importance to the club.

“After Mane left, keeping Salah became very important for the club. To lose both would have been a huge blow because from a footballing point of view continuity is a good thing in terms of people knowing each other’s roles and having relationships,” Said Murphy.

"And I don’t think Salah is the kind of player who will fall into a comfort zone and drop his levels just because he’s got more money.”

"He’s got plenty anyway and he still keeps scoring a stupid amount of goals and playing to a high level. So, I’m not concerned about that.”