By keeping an eye on a “electric” winger like “an early Mohamed Salah,” Liverpool can plan three years in advance.

A former England manager may possibly have helped Liverpool identify a potential successor to Mohamed Salah, who might say Liverpool farewell in three years’ time.

Who might Liverpool turn to if they seek a player with a similar profile?

Well, one contender is Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, who is currently 21 years old but will be 24 years old by the time Salah is most likely to depart (into the perfect age bracket for the Reds).

Fabio Capello, a former manager of AC Milan, Juventus, and of course England, has taken notice of Kvaratskhelia and claims that “his movements” remind him of an early Mohamed Salah.

What makes Kvaratskhelia unique, and how accurate is Capello’s comparison?

It appears flawed on the surface. This is due to the fact that Kvaratskhelia has spent the majority of his time playing football thus far on the left flank rather than the right. Transfermarkt, though, describes him as two-footed, which means he could rotate to the other flank if necessary and remain productive. In fact, in his brief career, he has already made 14 appearances on that side.

Kvaratskhelia recently moved from Georgian team Dianmo Batumi to Serie A outfit Napoli for a fee of £9 million. He had been playing for Rubin Kazan in the Russian Premier League, but he quit at the end of March purportedly due to threats made against his family after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

In 33 games last season, Kvaratskhelia scored 10 goals and contributed seven assists, although it’s important to note that 10 of the 17 goal involvements (8G 2A) were in the Georgian top flight, one of the weakest leagues in Europe (down in 47th in the UEFA coefficient). It doesn’t serve as a particularly fair evaluation of his skills.

On the other hand, he has excelled for Georgia, which is ranked 82nd in the world, against significantly superior competition abroad. He has scored goals in World Cup qualifying matches against Sweden, Greece, and Spain over the last 18 months. He seems set to go down as one of his nation’s all-time greats.

Undoubtedly, Kvaratskhelia’s swashbuckling appearance is one of the reasons Capello is interested in him. It doesn’t matter who is in front of him or how many defenders are going to attempt to stop him, according to Georgian football journalist Lasha Kokiashvili. When he has the ball, all he can think about is attacking.

Jacek Kulig, a talent scout, says that this aggressive style is so successful because the player has “electric pace and acceleration” in addition to “excellent technique and ball control.”

When Capello uses the term “early” Salah, he most likely refers to the player who made his Serie A debut with Fiorentina in 2014–15 while on loan from Chelsea. Salah, who was 22 at the time, and Kvaratskhelia’s efforts in Russia last season are easily comparable at the age of 21.

Salah was the more prolific of the two, scoring 0.6 goals per 90 against 0.2, even though they both averaged 2.1 shots.

The duo each were evenly matched for assists (0.3), but Salah’s underlying creative numbers (three chances created p90) were considerably better than Kvaratskhelia (1.7).

Capello’s claim might be based most of all on dribbling, and the two players do put up similar numbers. Kvaratskhelia averaged 6.9 take-ons and was successful with 3.3, finishing second in his division for successful dribbles per game. Salah looked to beat his man even more frequently (7.5 times) but posted a marginally better success rate of 50.67 per cent (against 48.15 per cent).

Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that Salah faced tougher competition, so the margin is probably a little greater than it seems, but overall, Capello’s statement holds up.

It will be interesting to follow Kvaratskhelia’s development at Napoli and how his style of play changes. Will he become more reserved or keep his electrifying personality?

Privately, he may also be on Liverpool’s radar. He has already attracted interest from Spurs, who reportedly considered him as an Adama Traoré replacement last summer. Salah was produced by Serie A, and if Kvaratskhelia can experience the same success, a long-term replacement may be on the horizon.