Mohamed Salah will go down as one of the greatest players in Liverpool’s history. The Egyptian has now scored sver 200 goals for the club since arriving in 2017 for an initial £36.5 million. At the time, there were doubts over Salah’s signing. After all, his previous spell in England wasn’t exactly a success.

He spent a couple of years at Chelsea but struggled to force his way into Jose Mourinho’s plans. He played just 19 times at Stamford Bridge before being sold to Roma, following a loan spell at I Giallorossi and Fiorentina. But the money Liverpool decided to spend on Salah all those years ago has proven to be one of the best pieces of business they’ve ever done.

Salah’s performances – and goals – have helped the club win their first-ever Premier League title, as well as the Champions League, Super Cup, Club World Cup, FA Cup and Carabao Cup. But not even those involved in the deal to bring Salah to Anfield could have predicted what he would go on to achieve.

In fact, a report in The Times just months after he arrived suggests Salah was actually Liverpool’s fourth-choice winger in the summer of 2017. Liverpool had originally tried to sign him before he decided to move to Chelsea in 2013 and the club had looked at plenty of alternatives in that time. Let’s take a look at those players and what happened to them.

Christian Pulisic

Current club: AC Milan

One of the names that Liverpool were looking at before Salah was Christian Pulisic. At the time, the American was coming off of his first campaign as a regular feature for Borussia Dortmund. He was one of the most highly-rated youngsters in football and the future looked blindingly bright for the winger.

Things didn’t quite pan out that way, though. After a further two years with Dortmund, Pulisic joined Chelsea in 2019. He had a solid first season with the Blues as well, scoring 11 goals across 34 appearances. He never truly took control of the team and became the star that many expected him to be, though. The American struggled with injuries at times and after four seasons at Stamford Bridge, he was sold to AC Milan in 2023 for around £20m.

His form in Italy has been much better so far. He scored 15 goals in his debut year with the Serie A side and is on course to better that mark in the 2024/25 campaign. Pulisic is still only 26 years old, and he’s got all the makings to be a top-class player, but Liverpool will likely be thanking their lucky stars that Dortmund refused to let the winger leave in 2017 and they were forced to turn to Salah instead.

Julian Draxler

Current club: Al Ahli SC

Bizarre moment Julian Draxler walks off pitch during Al-Ahli SC game in Qatar goes viral

Several months before the Reds looked at Pulisic and ultimately signed Salah, they were interested in Julian Draxler. The winger had spent his entire career up until that point playing in Germany, so Klopp was already familiar with his work. After making a name for himself at Schalke 04, the German moved to VfL Wolfsburg but spent just one-and-a-half seasons with the club before Liverpool came calling.

The Premier League side wanted to lure Draxler away from Germany and over to England, but he ultimately turned them down and went to Paris Saint-Germain instead. The move proved a fruitful one, as he proceeded to spend five-and-a-half years in France with the side and played close to 200 times for them. After a loan spell at Benfica during the 2022/23 season, he moved to Qatar and joined Al Ahli SC in the summer of 2023. He is still with the Qatar Stars League team and is performing well for the club, with 11 goals and 11 assists in 21 games.

Considering he’s still just 31 years old, though, it’s unlikely that anyone predicted he’d be out of Europe at this stage. Liverpool will be very grateful that he turned them down all those years ago.

Julian Brandt

Current club: Borussia Dortmund

Champions League – Borussia Dortmund Training – St James’ Park, Newcastle, Britain – October 24, 2023 Borussia Dortmund’s Julian Brandt during training Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith

 

The final player that the Reds wanted before turning to Salah was Julian Brandt. The German had made a name for himself following several impressive seasons with Bayer Leverkusen, and Klopp wanted to bring him to Anfield, but the winger feared he wouldn’t play regularly at Liverpool, so he stayed with the Bundesliga side for two more seasons, scoring a further 22 goals.

That earned him a move to Borussia Dortmund in 2019, and after a slow start at the club, he’s had a pretty strong tenure with them. Across five years, he’s played close to 250 times for the side and scored 42 times. It’s a respectable return, but it’s far from the incredible numbers that Salah has put up since moving to Liverpool. As such, the Reds will be very happy that Brandt prioritised his only playing career and forced them to turn to the talismanic Egyptian.