Without Salah, Liverpool aren’t in this title race
MAGIC MO STILL SO UNDERVALUED
WHERE would Liverpool be without Mo Salah? It’s a question that got me thinking. Everyone talks about the transformative signings of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson but what about Mo?
He doesn’t just score goals. He scores important ones. Last season Salah’s goals were worth a massive 17 points to Jurgen Klopp’s men. Had Salah spent the time on the sidelines that Van Dijk did last season, Liverpool would not have hosted AC Milan on Wednesday. It’s that simple.
It’s an incredible figure, but, being honest, it doesn’t come as a surprise.
I had the pleasure of playing with Mo for six months in Florence in 2015 and he used to tell me on the afternoons we would go out for coffee of his ambition to be a star for Liverpool. They were the team he always watched.
When he joined Fiorentina on loan from Chelsea, he was frustrated with himself. Things hadn’t worked out at Stamford Bridge but it was always in his mind that he would go back to England to show everyone what he could do.
In those first few weeks in Italy we spent a lot of time together. We had flats on opposing sides of the Ponte Vecchio and he was just the most humble and considerate guy you could wish to meet. But he was always thinking how he could improve, looking for the gains that would transform him.
Mo used to really look after himself. You see this amazing physique that he has now but the thing that sticks in my mind was how well he used to eat. It was always salad, he was always careful. He doesn’t drink, of course, because he is Muslim and he lived a very quiet life.
But during those first few weeks, as much I hit it off with him, I was confused by his situation. From what I saw in training each day, I couldn’t understand how he had not ripped it up for Chelsea. We were all scratching our heads: how could someone of his ability be allowed to leave on loan?
I’m not saying he’s as good as Lionel Messi but he was doing things that were Messi-like.
Football is littered with stories of players who are brilliant in training but don’t do it on match day but Mo — from the evidence I had — was not like that.
The game that sealed it for me was a Coppa Italia tie against Juventus in Turin. Juventus hadn’t lost at home for 47 matches, they were outstanding and would go on to contest the Champions League final later that spring.
On this particular night, however, Mo ran them ragged. His first goal was one I will never forget. I remember him picking up the ball inside our half and all that skill, speed and power he had was used to devastating effect. He ran 70 yards, beat three players and then fired in an unstoppable shot. We won 2-1 — Mo scored the second, too — and, from that point, his life in Florence changed.
He was a hero, with crowds waiting in the square outside his apartment every day. He went to Roma after his brief spell with us and he eventually joined Liverpool, I knew they had got a £36million bargain.
For some reason, however, I’m still not too sure he gets the credit he is due. Is it because he plays international football for Egypt, so we don’t see all their games on TV? Is it because he rarely gives interviews and keeps himself out of the headlines?
I can’t say this any clearer: Mo is the best wide forward in the world. He is absolutely outstanding. He has enhanced the role that Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery made their own with a goal record that puts many of the top No 9s in Europe in the shade.
A couple of years ago, I heard it suggested that Liverpool should cash in on Mo and keep Sadio Mane instead. Wow! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and I think the madness of that argument was proven by the statistic I provided at the start of this column.
I’ll say it again: 17 points last year — the difference between being involved in the glamour games or watching them unfold from a distance. It really is mindblowing. And here’s another one. His first season at Anfield, 2017-18. His goals were worth 16 points.
Without that, Liverpool aren’t in the Champions League. Without Mo, Liverpool aren’t in the title race this season. Quite simply, he is irreplaceable, the man for the big occasion and I hope the uncertainty around his contract is sorted out quickly.
For what he brings to a team, there are only a few clubs who could afford him. There is no point him going to Barcelona — who have huge financial issues anyway — and Real Madrid seem intent are completing a deal for Kylian Mbappe, so that is another option gone.
Nobody in England will be able to buy him and Paris SaintGermain is out of the equation for the moment, so that leaves him where he is. And what is wrong with that? Nothing. Liverpool were made for Mo and Mo was made for Liverpool. Together they can be an unstoppable force.