Liverpool told bargain price tag for Mohamed Salah successor Rayan Cherki with Lyon in desperate need of transfer funds to avoid forced relegation

Salah's future at Liverpool remains uncertain currently, as the Egyptian star is into the final year of his existing contract and yet to extend. A replacement may therefore be needed and Lyon's Cherki has emerged as a possible option. According to Foot Mercato, the Ligue 1 side would be willing to sell Cherki in the January transfer window for €30-35m (£25-£29m) as the club need to raise around €100m (£83m) in sales to balance the books and avoid a forced relegation.

Lyon are willing to sell players to ease their financial issues and may well have plenty of interest in Cherki. PSG and Bayer Leverkusen are expected to rival Liverpool for the France youth international, who is contracted to the club until 2026.

Lyon owner John Textor has spoken about Cherki and possible January sales. He told reporters: "We lost €15m from his potential sale [to PSG] last summer, but now his value is way higher. He should stay in January, but it's up to Rayan, as is always the case in football.

"We have an excess of superb players. The coach has almost impossible decisions to make. I hate rumours about which players to sell, it all depends on the opportunities, but the certainty is the abundance of players. We have 29 players in the first team. Ideally, we want 23 or 24. There are six players too many. Some have not left and we wanted to recruit to be stronger in the league."

Salah has been in top form again this season for Liverpool, scoring 10 goals already for Arne Slot's Reds in all competitions. The Egypt star is yet to reveal his plans for the future, but there's no doubt finding a replacement for the 32-year-old will be a tough task for Liverpool, if he does decide to move on.