Score, assist more, Wenger tells Salah

Arsene Wenger has offered Mohamed Salah some simple advice if he wants to reach the level of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo: score more goals and make more assists.

Since joining Liverpool in 2017, Salah has become one of the world’s most feared forwards. The Egyptian star initially struggled in England with Chelsea before departing for Italy, but hit 44 goals during his first season back in the Premier League to scoop a host of top individual prizes.

Salah won the Premier League Player of the Season, FWA and PFA prizes for 2017-18, and spear-headed Liverpool’s Champions League triumph the following year.

The 27-year-old has won the Golden Boot the past two seasons running with 32 goals in 2017-18 and 22 in 2018-19, though he had to share the award with Sadio Mane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang last term.

The only slight criticism which has been aimed at Salah despite his stunning success at Anfield has been a tendency to look at goal rather than towards his teammates - a situation which reared its head during Liverpool’s 3-0 win at Burnley last month, with Mane - visibly furious after being substituted - angry with Salah for passing up the chance to set him up on numerous occasions.

Speaking to beIN Sports, Wenger said of Salah’s challenge to become Ronaldo and Messi’s equal: “Look, he’s 20 goals away basically, if you want to be as concrete as possible.

“But he has similarities with Messi, [but] must find the consistency of Messi. I find him a bit as good a finisher, but Messi has the complete thing, he gives the final ball as well and Salah is a bit obsessed by finishing himself.

“There’s a dimension that he will get certainly when he grows a little bit older to find the moment when you have to give the ball and when you have to finish, but I like him very much and he has huge potential.”

Wenger also had kind words for Salah’s Liverpool team-mates Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, adding: “Mane as well, is a success, but as well you forget a little bit, the guy who sacrifices himself is Firmino, like [Luis] Suarez did for Messi and Neymar, the guy who works for the team and works for everybody and gets them to shine.”