Michael Owen worried about 'nigh-on impossible' transfer task facing Liverpool

Michael Owen has urged Liverpool to resolve the long-term futures of both Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk - describing the pair as "genius players" who are irreplaceable at Anfield.

As a result, Owen feels the search for their long-term successors has to be seriously underway behind the scenes. And while the ex-England frontman accepts it will be difficult to find players of a similar level, he admits he is fearful of seeing both Salah and Van Dijk depart. "There are great players all over the world, but finding the best centre-half in the world is not easy or replacing him is not going to be easy. Finding a right-side attacker that scores 30-something goals every year is just like nigh-on impossible. So, there's going to be two big hitters departing, or ageing or whatever over the next, three, four years. That's my concern about Liverpool, not the rest of the team.

"You can do these things. But the difference makers in teams that actually decide whether you're going to win trophies or not, they're virtually impossible to find. So, I'm thinking of players like Virgil Van Dijk and Mo Salah. I’m thinking they're getting to an age now whereby, yes, they've still got time left, let's say, but they're on the wrong side of the age group that you want them to be.

"You can definitely get another Luis Diaz or Darwin Nunez or Curtis Jones or, whoever it might be. You can find those players out there. They're really, really good players. You can find them. You can't replace Virgil van Dijk. You can't replace Mo Salah. You simply can't. Owen was also asked how new boss Slot, who succeeded Jurgen Klopp at the beginning of the month, goes about avoiding the missteps that David Moyes experienced when he replaced Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager in 2013.

Michael Owen Liverpool FC Transfer News Virgil Van Dijk Mohamed Salah

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