Liverpool 'considers' record deal for Takefusa Kubo amid long-term Mohamed Salah uncertainty

Liverpool is reportedly "considering" a record deal for Japanese international Takefusa Kubo amid the long-term uncertainty of Mohamed Salah , who has been linked with a move away from Anfield over the past year.

The Egyptian has become a club legend since arriving from Roma in 2017, scoring bags of goals and helping the Reds win every available trophy to reassert their dominance in England and Europe. However, since Jurgen Klopp's departure at the end of last season, there have been fears the forward could also follow him out the door .

However, in order to solve the conundrum, Liverpool could turn to Real Sociedad winger Kubo, who has been previously dubbed the "Japanese Messi". Like Salah, he operates as a left-footed right winger and would be the ideal replacement for the long-serving Egyptian.

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That's according to Japanese outlet Sponichi Annex , who claim Liverpool is "preparing" an offer of around $71million (£55million/€65million) to sign the 23-year-old this summer. The Reds are also reportedly lining up an eye-watering salary of more than $16.1m (£12.5m/€14.8m) per year for Kubo.

The signing would certainly be a major one, though early signs suggest Kubo is more than capable of fulfilling the role as Salah's replacement. The youngster was snapped up as an 18-year-old by Real Madrid from FC Tokyo in 2019, having previously been on the youth books of Barcelona .

Kubo never made a first-team appearance for Los Blancos but enjoyed a number of fruitful loan spells away from the club during his three years in the Spanish capital, appearing for Mallorca across two different spells, along with Villareal and Getafe.

With four seasons of La Liga experience behind him, Kubo made the permanent switch to Real Sociedad in 2022 and has been a revelation for the Basque Country outfit since, winning their Player of the Season award in his first campaign for the club.

Kubo has 16 goals and 14 assists in 85 appearances across all competitions for Real Sociedad and was instrumental in their return to the Champions League for the 2023-24 campaign, their first appearance in the competition for nine years, having secured a fourth-placed finish in La Liga in 2022-23.

Kubo is credited with being a fast, skilful right winger who can become a "football superstar" according to one of Mallorca's former executives, who praised the Japanese for his vision and intelligence on the pitch in a previous interview with the Daily Mail .

Liverpool already have the likes of Luis Diaz , Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota as their attacking options behind Darwin Nunez upfront, but Kubo would certainly offer something different as a left-footed winger.