Liverpool already has Mohamed Salah successor - but he won't be ready in 2025

Mohammed Salah shows no signs of slowing down; the Liverpool forward has started this season in arguably, remarkably, the best form of his career.

His record so far this term reads: 17 appearances, 10 goals, 10 assists. Liverpool has won 15 of those matches and sit at the top of both the Premier League and Champions League tables, with an EFL Cup quarter-final to come too.

Salah's start to the campaign is made all the more remarkable by the fact he is posting his incredible numbers against the backdrop of contract uncertainty.

As every Reds fan under the sun knows, the Egyptian is set to become a free agent at the end of the season and will be allowed to enter transfer talks with foreign clubs from January 1 onwards.

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Liverpool does not normally offer lengthy contract extensions to players in their 30s, but Salah is not a normal player, and an exception should be made to ensure he does not leave for nothing.

Salah will be 33 when his Liverpool deal ends on June 30 next year, but he is the ultimate professional athlete and one suspects his eventual decline will not be sudden.

Time waits for no man and Salah's level will begin to drop off at some point in the next few years. But by retaining the Egyptian, Liverpool will buy itself some time as the club gets ready for life without its talisman at some point in the hopefully distant future.

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One hugely talented player on Liverpool's books who plays in Salah's position is the Scottish teenager Ben Doak. It would be foolish to say that Doak will definitely go on to replace Salah in the Liverpool team, and it would be even more foolish to say that Doak will replicate Salah's achievements on the pitch with the Reds, but, make no mistake: expectations are high.

Liverpool rated Doak so highly that the club signed him from Celtic when he was just 16. Now 19, the youngster is spending this season on loan at Middlesbrough and has been a shining light in Michael Carrick's promotion-chasing side.

Arne Slot recently joked about recalling Doak in January and, although Boro were said to be relaxed about the comment from Liverpool's head coach, it was a sign that Slot had been taking notice of Doak's form on Teesside.

The Scot has a goal and three assists in 10 appearances for Boro, and his direct wing-play and brilliant dribbling has caused problems for many a Championship full-back.

Doak will still be a teenager when he returns to Anfieldnext summer and the start of next season might be the time for Slot to start blooding Doak as Salah's understudy.