Mohamed Salah’s classy performances are helping Liverpool regain its position and return to the Premier League championship race with Man City.
In the summer of 2023, clubs in the Saudi Pro League offered record prices to Liverpool to recruit the best player of The Kop – Mohamed Salah. Faced with attractive offers, the Anfield team still refused to keep the Egyptian star.
After the beginning of the season, this is probably Liverpool’s best decision as Salah continuously shines and helps the “Red Brigade” fly high on the Premier League rankings. The 31-year-old striker contributed 12 goals and 4 assists in the first 17 matches this season.
In every appearance, Salah shows that he is getting better and better. In Liverpool’s squad, no player shows greater effort than the Egyptian striker. “Egyptian Pharaoh” is becoming an ideal role model for his teammates.
Mohamed Salah is facing the milestone of 200 goals for Liverpool – an achievement that no Kop player has achieved in the past 36 years. The closest person to ever do this for the Merseyside team is the legendary Ian Rush. If he wins a double in the match against Man City, Salah will become the 5th player in Liverpool history to reach the 200 goal mark. This achievement has surpassed famous players of the “Red Brigade” such as Kenny Dalglish, Steven Gerrard, Robbie Fowler or Michael Owen.
Legend Ian Rush scored 200 goals for Liverpool in 321 appearances. Mohamed Salah is no less competitive, having scored 198 goals in 322 matches for The Kop. Notably, the Egyptian star is a pure winger, which is more disadvantageous to Ian Rush – who has a forte in the center position. In 7 seasons with the Merseyside team, Salah is becoming a top goalscorer.
Jurgen Klopp hopes Mohamed Salah will equal the achievements of legendary Ian Rush. Pep Guardiola also expressed concern about the 31-year-old striker’s performance when Salah scored in all four matches against Man City last year. Besides, The Kop star has scored 11 goals in 19 matches against The Citizens.
With his contributions to Liverpool, Salah is walking to the legendary temple of the Anfield team. Even the captain of the Egyptian team may be in the top 3 greatest players of The Kop, on par with Dalglish and Gerrard.
After the match against the “Red Brigade” in round 12 of the Premier League, Brentford coach Thomas Frank expressed his admiration for Mohamed Salah’s talent. The captain of the “Bees” said: “I think Salah is the best player in the Premier League at the moment with an unbelievable number of goals and assists. His class is indisputable. Salah is in the top 3 best attacking players in the world, making every team afraid to face each other.”
Although Salah is still conquering records, the individual titles of players born in 1992 are limited. The Egyptian star’s most outstanding achievement is winning the “Best Player in Africa” award twice.
Salah has never been on the list of top candidates for the Golden Ball title. In the 2023 election, the Liverpool striker only ranked 11th even though he scored 30 goals last season. Even winning the Champions League in 2019, Salah could not get into the top 5 of the Golden Ball.
“It’s true that I was shocked with my ranking. I want to win it (the Ballon d’Or) to equal the legendary George Weah, the only African to win this title. I will do everything I can to be next” – Salah spoke out about his consistently poor rankings in 2021.
Salah made a strong statement, but time is running out for the Liverpool striker to do so. Even this is impossible when The Kop cannot participate in the Champions League this season. With clubs in the Saudi Pro League still intending to recruit Salah for a record amount of money, only the ambition to win titles in Europe is what keeps the 31-year-old star at Anfield.
Salah’s contract with Liverpool will expire after the end of this season. This will create a dilemma for both the Egyptian star and the host team. The “Red Brigade” has confirmed that they will not sell the 31-year-old striker for 150 million pounds in the summer of 2023. However, if they do not meet Salah’s performance expectations, The Kop may lose their top star. me.
The results at Etihad Stadium will partly show Liverpool’s strength at the present time. Besides, the performance of The Kop in general and Salah in particular will also affect Jurgen Klopp’s decisions in the winter transfer window.
