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Liverpool have been warned off one of the players they have been linked with as a replacement for Mohamed Salah, who left Anfield in the summer.
Although the Reds spent big signing Bradley Barcola from PSG, they did not add a natural right winger to Andoni Iraola’s squad in the transfer market. The Frenchman, after all, did much of his best work for the Champions League winners down the left and has yet to look fully comfortable in his new role.
One of the solutions that Liverpool have looked at is Feyenoord winger Anis Hadj Moussa, but the Reds have been told that he’s not good enough for an absolute elite club by pundit Kenneth Perez.
“On Sunday, we saw the kind of speed Eredivisie players possess – take Hadj Moussa, for example,” the former Denmark international told Voetbalpraat.
“But I wonder if you saw Real Madrid’s second goal. That is the kind of speed you actually need to compete at the absolute highest level.
“Hadj Moussa does things that you also see at the elite level; it’s just the sheer speed at which it happens… I don’t want to suggest that the Eredivisie is insignificant, but the top eight clubs in Europe are in a league of their own compared to almost everyone else.
“My point is that we often assume players are ready to make the jump to the very top, but when you see the speed at that elite level, it becomes clear just how difficult that transition is.
“He possesses some extraordinary traits, but I don’t think he quite has that final piece required to play at that level. When people say: ‘He could go to City or Liverpool’ – I think that’s a very tall order.”
Hadj Moussa can’t touch Salah’s quality
Hadj Moussa’s career has been a slow burner. At 24, he has worked his way through several clubs but finally seems to have found a suitable home in Rotterdam, where he has already scored six Eredivisie goals in nine appearances this season, putting him firmly on course for his best campaign to date.
But SciSports back up Perez’s fear that Hadj Moussa would likely struggle at a real superclub. Although his game has developed rapidly over the course of 2026, he is still far from the standard capable of making him a regular at a club like Liverpool.
This contrasts sharply with Salah, who even in his latter years remains ahead of Hadj Moussa in terms of his quality.
An Algeria international, he possesses outstanding speed and very good stamina, yet being able to translate these qualities into an elite environment would be no easy task for a player with an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €28.2 million.
SciSports’ Career Advice tool suggests Liverpool is a strong match in terms of style and formation, but that Hadj Moussa would lack playing time at Anfield and could see his development stunted. Instead, it suggests Inter Milan as the optimal move for the winger, who is sure to be subject to intense transfer speculation should his strong form continue.
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