Innovating has become such an established part of Mohamed Salah’s repertoire at Liverpool that sometimes it takes a new voice to remind us that his routine is, in fact, exceptional and should be celebrated as such. The erudite Thomas Frank was that voice before the international break.
“Mo Salah gets a lot of praise but I don’t know if he gets enough praise,” the Brentford manager said. “I think he’s potentially the best player in the Premier League at the moment. What a level in terms of goals and assists. He’s got to be one of the best attackers in the world. Not top 10, top three.”
Relating to: Liverpool are in flux but Salah remains Klopp’s invaluable game changer | Paul Hayward
The best player in the Premier League? As he noted in the post-match press conference at Anfield, Frank was thinking out loud as he examined the details of the still raw 3-0 defeat, rather than plotting to troll Erling Haaland and Manchester City. However, a Premier League manager who did not call up Jurgen Klopp did not call up Salah to put him on this podium and possibly place him among the best attacking players in the world at the same age as 23-year-old Haaland and 24-year-old Kylian Mbappé. The 31 showed that it’s not just Liverpool fans who appreciate the greatness.
Salah’s outstanding consistency in terms of goals, impact, fitness and hunger is one of the main reasons Liverpool can visit the Etihad Stadium confident of reclaiming their position as the biggest threat to City’s dominance. Klopp criticized the decision to move kick-off to 12.30pm on Saturday after the international break, claiming it was “the match the world paid the most to see”. The Haaland-Salah match will be an important reason if Haaland recovers from the ankle injury he suffered in Norway.
Only City’s centre-forward (13), who scored more goals than the Egyptian national team’s 10 goals in the Premier League this season, was 4-3 ahead of Salah in assists. According to the Premier League’s criteria, Salah’s goals came from 14 “big chances”, while Haaland benefited from 23 goals. In terms of “big chances created” the score is 11-3 in favor of the Liverpool player.
It is notable that Salah has kept up with Haaland while operating on the right wing, as he adapts to the more explosive play of Darwin Núñez and an entirely new midfield behind him following the departure of Roberto Firmino. But his goalscoring rate has improved this season, reaching his highest rate (0.83 per game) since his astonishing debut season at Anfield in 2017-18, when he scored 32 goals in 36 Premier League games (0.88 per game). Two clean sheets in the PFA and FWA player of the year awards.
Salah has already reached 200 goals in English football during a memorable season at Chelsea, although he still has two goals to his name from 200 goals after 321 appearances for Liverpool. He produced a total of 119 goals and assists in 117 Premier League matches at Anfield. The statistics are ridiculous. City will also be wary of them. Salah scored in all four games against Pep Guardiola’s treble-win side last season and has scored 11 goals in 18 appearances against City.
There are also individual records that Salah is currently breaking on a weekly basis. Take Liverpool’s last three home games. Against Toulouse, he scored his 43rd goal in major European competitions for Liverpool, surpassing Thierry Henry as the most prolific marksman for an English club in Europe.
Three days later against Nottingham Forest, he became the third Liverpool player to score in the first five home league games of the season, after Harry Chambers in 1922 and John Aldridge in 1987. He broke the record by scoring a goal in the last game against Brentford. six in a finish that left the beaten manager muttering. “The signature of a clear Liverpool attack,” as Frank puts it.
“We lose, we go on the counter-attack, we hit Salah and it’s a goal. But that’s not always the goal for everyone in that situation. It’s just the quality of the player and Liverpool.” The trademark finish also extended Salah’s run of scoring and assisting in Premier League matches at Anfield to 15 matches, a run dating back to January.
Milestones are not limited to club level. In his next match against Brentford, Salah scored four goals in Egypt’s 6-0 defeat of Djibouti. The feat meant he overtook Mohamed Aboutrika, his country’s record goalscorer in World Cup qualifiers, with 15 goals.
But numbers alone do not sum up Salah’s extraordinary level. His work rate, attitude and leadership have supported Liverpool’s recovery this season. On tougher days when performances are not up to the mark, such as last month’s Merseyside derby at Anfield, the striker still emerges as the decisive influence. Alongside Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and key figures in Klopp’s squad, Salah appears to be setting the standards for new signings to follow as he makes amends for last season’s failure to qualify for the Champions League. Together they revived Liverpool’s relentless mentality.
Over seven seasons as a Liverpool player, Salah has missed just 10 Premier League matches, two of which have been forced to contest the Africa Cup of Nations in 2022. Klopp will have to deal with this issue again in January, when Salah could miss four league games. Including against Chelsea and Arsenal – depending on Egypt progressing. However, there do not appear to be any signs of deterioration in the striker’s fitness and form. “I think if we were to scan it the majority of the bones would be 19 or 20 years old,” the Liverpool manager joked recently. “He keeps himself in very good shape.”
Liverpool’s decision to reject Al-Ittihad’s £150m bid for number 11 has been confirmed in less than three months. The threat of Saudi Arabia making another eye-watering haul for the most high-profile Muslim footballer on the planet remains inevitable, with Salah set to enter the final 12 months of his contract at Liverpool next summer. So who’s to say the thought of playing in front of insignificant crowds in the Saudi Pro League will turn his head?
Salah’s records, milestones and insatiable appetite make a compelling case for Liverpool to extend his contract, even if it is a long saga that last reached a successful resolution just 17 months ago. Whatever the next step is, his value should not be lost on anyone at Anfield. As Klopp said: “We appreciate him and after his career everyone will appreciate him even more because then you will say, ‘Wow, we saw something really special’.”