If it is now being cautiously accepted that Manchester City’s rivalry with Liverpool is the greatest in football, then it begs the question, will they get into an arms race with each other?
Already, two of the greatest squads in football history are producing numbers that no other teams of any era could ever match in a head to head that is producing, at least statistically, the greatest football ever seen.
Each time one steps up the ante, the other responds. We saw it way back in 2017 when Pep Guardiola stunned football by signing four defenders and to give him the platform he needed, for a combined total of more than £200m.
Jurgen Klopp responded with the signings of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, for around £150m. The signings both managers made gave their teams the stability to challenge as never before, and the benefits have been obvious. Last summer, when Guardiola surprised the football world with a record fee for Jack Grealish, Klopp quietly responded by lining up a player he eventually signed in January in Luis Diaz, who many will argue has had the greater effect this season.
The question is though, what happens when City go nuclear in the summer? Perhaps goaded by Liverpool, perhaps fearful of the challenge they have faced on all fronts this season, the Manchester club have gone all in on signing goal machine Erling Haaland. So many times has it been repeated that Guardiola’s team would be invincible with a proven goalscorer that it has almost become a cliche. Yet there could be some truth in that. Imagine THIS Manchester City team, with THAT striker and the amount of goals he brings.
How could Liverpool possibly respond. Do they look to do the same, and find an upgrade on Roberto Firmino, who has goals well down on the list of his priorities as false nine facilitator in Klopp’s team? There are many who fear Haaland’s signing could make the Premier League a one horse race again, make English football the procession it surely would have been, had not Klopp performed such heroics in producing a team that matches City, and surpass them at times.
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Yet there are perhaps not one, but TWO signings Liverpool could make to allow them to continue to compete next season and beyond, right up to 2024 when Klopp is due to leave Anfield. If there has been one thing we have seen in recent months as the Reds have gone on a remarkable run that displays their remarkable quality, it is the enduring brilliance of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
Between them, they have surely produced the best form of their record-smashing Anfield careers, which takes some doing. Salah has once again reached 30 goals for the campaign, the third time he’s recorded that incredible landmark, and he leads both the Premier League scoring and assists charts. And when he had a dry patch - by his standards - Mane took on full responsibility, to produce what many observers believe is his best run of form in a Liverpool shirt, with five goals in his last five games.
Mane is 30 years old. Salah will be 30 in June. Yet both are producing numbers in terms of distance covered, sprints per 90 and dribbles, that are the envy of any player, of any age. Perhaps most importantly, both are showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. Klopp said only last week that Mane can play on into his mid-30s if he wants to. And he has said the same about Salah. So signing those two up on new, long term contracts, to keep them at Anfield for the next four years, seems like a no-brainer.
Not when they are getting better, and are already classed amongst the world elite. Liverpool are notoriously reluctant to burden themselves with long contracts for aging players on big money, after their owners were burned when they inherited many such suicidal deals when they bought the club. It took them five years to sort out that mess, and so they are rightly cautious when extending contracts for players in their 30s. Yet the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski and Karim Benzema have shown that age is no barrier these days, with the medical and dietary support players now have.
Both don’t drink, either. And look after themselves like the world-class athletes they are. While both use pace as a weapon, neither relies on it solely. Most crucially of all, both have displayed a hunger in recent weeks that marks them out as different from most footballers. And that is the key. If they are given new deals, then it will not dampen their desire for more trophies, more awards, and more glory. Given just how important they both clearly still are to Liverpool right now, it seems inconceivable that both won’t be retained beyond their current deals, which run out in the summer of 2023.
Klopp now has five top class forwards to choose from, but it is clear - when it really comes to it - it’s Salah, Mane and one other. Mane destroyed Manchester City last weekend, Salah did the same to Manchester United on Tuesday. They are the two signings from Liverpool which Guardiola will be most afraid of, will make him more worried about the Reds, not less. And they are the two signings which could ensure that even with Haaland in their ranks, City will still be looking over their shoulder at the Red menace looming right behind them.
