Jurgen Klopp may have latest Mo Salah dilemma after Liverpool contract saga

The arrival of Darwin Nunez this summer may raise speculation surrounding who will be Liverpool’s number one penalty taker.  

The £85m price tag will add plenty of pressure onto the forward’s shoulders, but his recent four-goal performance against RB Leipzig showed his class.

The 23-year-old joined from Benfica where he was renowned for being calm and collected from the penalty spot.  

As things stand, Mo Salah is the first-choice spot-kick taker at the club. The Egyptian has netted numerous vital goals including his penalty against Tottenham in the 2018 Champions League final.  

The Uruguayan first goal in pre-season for the club was from the penalty spot, could this be a sign of things to come for the rest of the season?    

What are both players' penalty records?

For Mo Salah, he has netted 27 times from the spot throughout his career, missing on six occasions. Most notably against Senegal in the African Cup of Nations final this year when he was being bombarded with lasers from fans in the face.  

Two out of six of his misses came last season for Liverpool, with Salah not previously missing for Liverpool since 2017. Salah has since secured a new contract and will once again be the focal point for the Reds, but will that translate into penalty duties again?

On the other hand, Nunez has not yet missed a penalty, scoring on all eleven occasions.  

His recent penalty success against RB Leipzig may have strengthened his argument for taking over from Salah.

The verdict

Salah may have missed twice last year for Liverpool but since the turn of the year, he has scored all his penalties.  

Nunez will be full of confidence from the spot as he has not yet missed but is this enough to replace Liverpool’s talisman in Salah? I think not.

Salah has provided some of the club’s biggest moments since he joined in 2017 and has performed well on penalties. A couple of misses is not enough for him to vacate the role for Nunez.

If Salah begins to miss more frequently for the club, then of course the Uruguayan has every right to take over the duty, but the time is not right now.  

It is going to take more than one penalty in pre-season to relieve Salah of his penalty role and Jurgen Klopp knows this.  

Nunez should affirm his place in the starting eleven first then the conversation can start again.