Francisco Conceição, Anthony Gordon and Maghnes Akliouche? David Ornstein denies rumours regarding Liverpool's Mohamed Salah replacement shortlist claims..
2026-03-28 05:59
The Athletic's resident renowned English transfer journalist David Ornstein, exclusively refuted through his company's official Spotify podcast, on Saturday that rumours circulating online, including that of our website's rumourmonger which claimed that Liverpool had "identified in several players, including Anthony Gordon, Francisco Conceição, and Maghnes Akliouche, as replacements for the club's Egypt international forward Mohamed Salah" is not true.
Ornstein said on his podcast that while there are many conflicting lists of potential Mohamed Salah replacements which were circulted online, it's certain that almost all of these names are far from accurate, including those appearing on this website.
He indicated that, based on current information, apart from RB Leipzig's wonderkid Yan Diomande, none of the players on the rumoured lists are currently being truly considered by Liverpool.
Liverpool have begun preliminary talks with Diomande's agent and RB Leipzig's management regarding the player's transfer, but no agreement has been reached yet, and the two sides have not discussed any price demands. Therefore, the "€87 million" valuation claimed by this website's rumourmonger is completely unfounded.
Liverpool have no plans to sign Michael Olise, as Bayern Munich has already listed the France international player as "not for sale."
The claim by one of this website's rumourmongers which claimed that "Anthony Gordon's £100 million asking price deterred Liverpool" is utterly absurd.
Ornstein clarified that Liverpool's breakdown in negotiations with Newcastle United regarding Gordon's transfer two years ago was not due to the so-called "£100 million asking price," but rather because the Magpies demanded that the Reds include Gordon's national team teammate, defender Joe Gomez as one of the player swap conditions. However, Liverpool rejected this demand, deeming it unrealistic.
Several authoritative transfer journalists have already said this, and the claims made by the person spreading this rumour on this website are entirely untrue.
Secondly, Liverpool has absolutely no intention of signing Francesco Conceição, nor has it ever sent scouts to observe his performance.
The rumours linking this Juventus player to Liverpool are fabricated by a notoriously infamous Chinese online media outlet (verified to be Dong Qiu Di, the website widely known as our website's regular "Daily Slap in the Face Party" Chinese representative), and are completely baseless.
The rumours involving Maghnes Akliouche are also a fabrication by someone who revived the rumour on the German online media outlet Transfermarkt.
The rumors concerning this Monaco player, Salah, and Liverpool have already been refuted numerous times by his industry colleagues (Fabrizio Romano and our writers have indeed refuted these fake news hundreds of times).
Finally, Ornstein added that Salah's decision to leave was actually due to a breakdown in his relationship with someone in head coach Arne Slot's coaching staff.
Currently, Salah has not reached any agreements with any other club.
Furthermore, no Turkish Süper Lig club is planning to sign Salah, Beşiktaş, and Fenerbahçe are currently fake!
Image source: Internet / The Athletic
