Gerrard Identifies Olise as Salah Successor
Steven Gerrard did not hesitate when the question came. If Liverpool want a like-for-like successor to Mohamed Salah, the options are thin.
"If you want to bring in a direct replacement for Salah, there are very few options out there," he said on talkSPORT. "Olise would be one, I’d say."
One name. One profile. One problem.
Gerrard knows it. Liverpool know it. Bayern Munich know it best of all.
"I don’t think he’d be available," the former Reds captain admitted, almost with a shrug to reality.
Bayern amused, not alarmed
Michael Olise is tied to Bayern until 2029. That contract is not just paperwork; it is a fortress.
Inside the club, the talk of a summer exit barely registers as a concern. It’s entertainment.
"These rumours make everyone at the club smile," Bayern supervisory board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told As when asked about the speculation linking Olise with Liverpool, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
"He still has three years left on his contract – there’s nothing more to say on the matter. People come to the stadium for players like him."
That last line landed like a closing statement. Bayern are not merely resisting. They are almost offended by the idea of selling the player who has become one of the faces of their new era.
Max Eberl went even further, stripping away any hint of negotiation. The FCB sporting director stressed in Sport Bild that those at Säbener Straße are not wasting "a single thought" on a possible Olise transfer.
No invitation. No opening. No dialogue.
Liverpool’s £200m temptation
The numbers being floated around England show how desperate the hunt for a Salah successor has become.
Reports claim Liverpool are prepared to go as high as 200 million euros to bring Olise to Anfield. That figure would smash their transfer record and plant the Frenchman squarely among the most expensive footballers in history.
Yet every signal from Munich is the same: not for sale.
Bayern paid €53 million to take Olise from Crystal Palace in 2024. Since then, his value has exploded, not just on spreadsheets but on the pitch.
He has been directly involved in 44 goals this season alone – 16 scored, 28 created. Those are not promising numbers. They are elite numbers. The kind that make recruitment departments across Europe rewrite their shortlists.
Little wonder Liverpool, Madrid and Barcelona are circling. They are all staring at the same problem: there are very few wide forwards in world football who can both finish like a striker and create like a No 10.
Olise is already doing both in Munich.
Life after Salah
For Liverpool, the urgency is clear. The clock on the Salah era is ticking down.
The Egyptian confirmed at the end of March that he will leave the reigning English champions early this summer, even though his contract runs until 2027. A modern club icon is walking away at 33, with a legacy that will be hard to touch.
Since 2017, Salah has delivered numbers that belong in the club’s folklore: 255 goals in 436 appearances. Titles, finals, unforgettable nights. He has been the constant in a team that changed around him.
His next move remains unresolved. Recent reports have linked him strongly with Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia, a move that would underline the league’s determination to keep importing global stars at the tail end of their European peak.
Liverpool’s task is different. They are not building a retirement home. They are trying to construct the next great frontline.
Beyond the one-for-one dream
Olise fits the Salah template better than almost anyone: left-footed, devastating from the right, ruthless in the final third, creative enough to unlock deep blocks. That is why Gerrard’s answer came so quickly.
But Liverpool may have to accept that the ideal replacement is locked away in Bavaria.
"Liverpool’s scouting department will have several options in mind. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a one-for-one replacement," Gerrard said, backing the club to adapt even if the Olise chase proves futile.
That might be the key. Not chasing a ghost of Salah, but reshaping the attack, spreading the responsibility, finding different types of threat rather than a single superstar.
Olise would have been the statement signing of a new era at Anfield. Bayern, though, are in no mood to supply the headline.
