Mohamed Salah told £65m Arsenal and Tottenham target is replacing him at Liverpool in January

Ex-Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood says Spurs should ‘forget’ about signing Antoine Semenyo as the Bournemouth forward will be replacing Mohamed Salah at Liverpool in January.

Salah’s glittering chapter at Liverpool appears to be nearing its end, with the forward’s future thrown into doubt on the back of his explosive comments at the weekend.

After Salah was named on the bench for a third game in succession, the Egyptian suggested he had been ‘thrown under the bus’ and claimed his relationship with Arne Slot had completely broken down.

The English champions were emphatic with their response to Salah’s remarks at Elland Road, leaving the three-time PFA Player of the Year out of their squad to face Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

According to talkSPORT, Salah – Liverpool’s third highest goalscorer of all time – is ‘unlikely’ to return for the Reds’ upcoming clash with Brighton and there is a strong chance the 33-year-old may have played his final game for the club.

Naturally, the doubt and speculation surrounding Salah’s future has prompted debate as to the potential signings Liverpool could make to somehow replace their talismanic attacker next month.

Even before Salah’s outburst, Bournemouth star Semenyo was heavily linked with a big-money move to Anfield, with the 25-year-old earning rave reviews for his performances in the Premier League over the last two seasons.

A release clause in Semenyo’s contract with the Cherries means the Ghana international is available for a fee of £65million for the first two weeks of the January transfer window, which has also put the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Spurs on red alert.

But Sherwood is convinced Semenyo will be on his way to Merseyside as he is the ‘obvious choice’ to fill the void left by Salah.

‘I think Liverpool will go for Semenyo in January and I think it’s bad news for anyone else who wanted Semenyo. Tottenham were in for him,’ Sherwood said on the No Tippy Tappy Podcast.

‘He works his socks off and I think he’s a player.

‘There’s never a sure thing, is there? But I think that because he’s been in the Premier League, he’s done the rounds, every time he’s stopped up a level he’s ticked the box.

‘He’s got power, he’s got pace, he’s perfect on that right-hand side, he’s a team man. I just think a natural.’

Sherwood added: ‘When you bring a player in from outside the Premier League like Florian Wirtz then you just never know and you haven’t got time for them to settle.

‘I think Semenyo would go straight into the team and he obviously rehearsed very well early on the season, the first game of the season, and he’s cheap.

‘He’s a young man, he’s got a future there and he’s the obvious choice, which is bad news for the other clubs. Tottenham can forget it.’

According to Sherwood, Salah has badly let himself down and is threatening to ‘tarnish’ his legacy at Liverpool.

‘Arne Slot decided he wants to make a change for the best of Liverpool Football Club, not for the best of Mohamed Salah, and Salah has to realise that,’ he continued.

‘This club will always be bigger than any individual so it’s disappointing to see.

‘Will it tarnish his legacy? I think tarnish is the right word. It won’t destroy it because, for me, he’s genius of a player and I still think he’s got a lot left.

‘When people say his legs are gone… when you’re old and you have a bad game, you have a bad game because you’re old. You’re allowed to have a bad game! Young players have bad games as well.

‘He’s still got a lot to offer, whoever takes him, but I think he wants to try and move this forward in January otherwise he wouldn’t have spoken.’

Sherwood hopes Slot is given until the end of the season to turn Liverpool’s fortunes around given what he achieved in his first year in charge.

‘Arne Slot isn’t having a good time. He’s got a lot of tools to work with and there’s a lot of players that aren’t performing,’ he went on.

‘Whatever the reasons are, I still believe that Liverpool give him until the end of the season and I think they will let Salah go if they can find the right price for him.

‘You cannot let the tail wag the dog and I don’t think Liverpool will ever allow that. They never have in the past and I don’t think they will start now.

‘Slot isn’t there to babysit the players, he’s there to pick a team to win a football match and Salah is asking him to babysit him at the moment.’

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