Liverpool must sell two players after Wolves disaster as ugly problem resurfaces | Football | Sport

If Liverpool begin next season with Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo as their starting wingers, something has gone wrong. That is not easy to say. In their Anfield careers, the pair have made major contributions to the club’s success. But last night’s defeat at Wolves was another sorry reminder that for this team to move forward, they will surely have to leave those two behind. It makes a lot of sense to cash in.

Bayern Munich are keen on Gakpo and the Dutchman, like Luis Diaz, would thrive in Germany. If the Reds can nearly double the £37million they paid in 2022 for him, an exit makes sense. The same goes for Salah, who could still fetch a sizeable fee from the Saudi Pro League. He would be a solid squad player but everybody knows that Salah would be reluctant to become a rotation option. The Egyptian legend, of course, scored Liverpool’s goal in the 2-1 defeat at Molineux. That means he has produced eight goals (six from open play) and eight assists in 30 matches this season.

While well down on his output from last year, that is still a respectable tally. It is the kind of total Rio Ngumoha should aim for once he is a week-in, week-out starter. Cody Gakpo’s eight-goal, four-assist return is not shameful either. But Salah and Gakpo simply do not offer this team what it so desperately needs: pace and one-vs-one threat; the ability to stand up a defender and beat him, the ability to consistently create separation and create high-quality shooting opportunities for themselves and their team-mates.

There is a marked difference between what Gakpo and Ngumoha, an inexperienced teenager who doesn’t even turn 18 until August, currently offer. Gakpo can get you a goal thanks to his ball-striking, height and back post positioning but even Steven Gerrard pointed out on TNT Sports that he is underperforming. Gerrard said: “For 65 minutes, Liverpool were desperate tonight, really poor. Didn’t create enough. Didn’t play at the right speed or the right tempo. They didn’t have enough quality. He [Arne Slot] has to start Ngumoha now. He’s coming on and doing more in a short space of time than Gakpo is doing in 65-70 minutes. He deserves to start now.”

Every Liverpool fan agrees with their former captain. But that, in itself, is a damning indictment: Premier League champions Liverpool need a 17-year-old to save their attack.

In a half-an-hour sub cameo at Wolves, Ngumoha forced a great save from Jose Sa and delivered a fantastic 92nd-minute cross Virgil van Dijk should have scored from. He also should have defended better before Wolves’ winning goal but he is a teenager and mistakes are inevitable. The England youth international is still consistently a difference-maker when he comes on.

Liverpool need more attackers with his attributes: pace, explosivity and directness. Until going 1-0 down at Wolves, their attack was far too passive and slow. They created very few chances. What chances they created, they did not take. Salah and Gakpo frustrated with their decision-making and end product.

Salah’s goal was his first in the league since November. The Egyptian remains capable of creating chances because he has an elite footballing brain. Less and less nowadays do what he CAN do versus what he DOES match up. At Wolves he lost possession 28 times. That’s 12 times more than any other player. The only time a Liverpool player has lost the ball more in one game in 2025-26 was the 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest in November. That was also Salah (36 times).

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It is easier to stomach so many losses of possession when the player is still positively affecting the outcome of games. Against Wolves, nearly every touch or pass of Salah’s was bad. His drought-ending goal was well taken, but his worst moment actually came straight after it. He delayed a pass to Dominik Szoboszlai, who would have been in on goal, so long that Hugo Bueno was able to set himself and intercept. Salah’s frustrated reaction said it all.

Gakpo had four of Liverpool’s 15 shots at Molineux and managed just one on target – straight at the keeper. He’s had 64 shots this term. Of those, 25 have been blocked and 22 have missed the target. The Dutchman is too frustrating and predictable, and his downturn in production (18g and 7a in 49 games last season vs 8g and 4a in 37 this season) is proof of that. Defenders know not to give him space if he cuts inside.

Gakpo and Salah are not the Reds’ only issues. Not by a long stretch. And Slot’s tactics are a major factor in their decline. Among the manager’s many problems is his team’s ugly habit of throwing away matches late on. They are the only team in the Premier League era to lose five games in one season in the 90th minute or later. Their defence and midfield have plenty of holes too. But their first-choice wingers have been a season-long headache.

Can the pair reinvent themselves to prove they should still start next year? Based off recent evidence, probably not. Players like Yan Diomande and Bradley Barcola have to be targets this summer. Ngumoha deserves more minutes next year too.

It is sad to say the Premier League champions should get rid of a club legend like Salah and a player in Gakpo who averages a goal or an assist every 145 minutes. But modern football is a brutal game, and the pair are not justifying the £650,000 a week they earn combined. If Liverpool want to become a serious team again next season, they need more unpredictability and pace out wide than they offer.

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