Why isn’t Salah loved as much as Suarez?
Let me surprise you: players think about personal records. A lot. When it is mentioned to you an achievement might be close, it is all you can think about.
Mohamed Salah will have gone through that recently. A little word in the ear that he was on the cusp of becoming the fastest Liverpool player to reach 100 Premier League goals. right, well that is definitely staying lodged in the mind until the record is broken. Brentford, and that barmy 3-3 draw, was the scene on Saturday night.
He was also quicker than all-time legends roger Hunt and Jack Parkinson to a century of top-flight goals for Liverpool.
Salah is a phenomenon, with thierry Henry and Sergio Aguero the only foreign imports to have reached the landmark in fewer games. Yet there is still that feeling of under-appreciation and I cannot put my finger on why. Maybe it is because the eye-popping numbers he produces every season have become the norm.
Compare him to Fernando torres and Luis Suarez for a moment. they are almost held in higher esteem — and are deemed more special — by supporters. But he has a record that eclipses them easily.
We have to be honest, the Liverpool squad that Suarez was in has to go down as one of the worst in recent memory. It was not particularly vintage.
the team now is full of stars. If Salah was in a bang-average side, there would be more focus and awe on what he is churning out. Perception is a funny thing.
It is reaching the stage where you look at what he is doing and have to come to the conclusion that he is a modern-day great. Salah walks into the right-hand side of Liverpool’s best-ever XI. He has that position sewn up. Get him in there alongside Gerrard, Souness, rush, Dalglish — whoever you pick, he has to be included. When you think of the players who have worn that red shirt, Salah gets in the ultimate team. Suarez and torres do not.
the priority is making sure he agrees a new contract. He is the best signing they could make. everybody else is done and he is the biggest hitter.
It might upset a few people, because he will inevitably be on more money than virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane and the rest. But he backs that up with statistics. Just look at his numbers; he’s now in the club’s top 10 scorers with 131 goals and bearing down on Harry Chambers (151) in ninth, who he could pass this season.
I am biased, of course, but strikers are worth the money. Salah wins games.
the best thing he can do is sign a five-year deal, secure himself for life and become a club legend.
real Madrid have been sniffing but why would he go there? there isn’t a club on the planet he could join that is better than Liverpool at this stage. Hypothetically, if he goes elsewhere in the Premier League he’ll lose what he has built at Anfield. there are no european destinations that are a no-brainer. Barcelona and real are not the same, there are other factors with Paris Saint-Germain and the merits of Ligue 1.
Anybody would want Salah. His relentlessness is incredible. no matter how Liverpool are playing, Salah scores. there is no doubt that he should be more revered.
Society is always looking for the next big thing. everybody wants the next Messi or whatever. they want exciting and new.
Salah is just like robert Lewandowski in that sense. Why has Lewandowski never won the Ballon d’or? How has that happened? Scoring goals is just what these guys do and it is taken for granted.
Hang on, you have titans still going here.
Players like Salah, with that mentality, come off pitches unhappy if they have not scored. He will take that disappointment
home with him — however rare that might be at the moment. Jermain Defoe was always fuming when he hadn’t scored. Rio Ferdinand has told me the exact same stories about Ruud van Nistelrooy at Manchester United. The cliche that it is all about the team, thinking about the next game, is a load of rubbish. I’d rather score and reach my target, thank you. And hitting your targets helps the team anyway.
That is why these ridiculous numbers are consistently posted by the elite strikers. That mentality. One-in-two was always considered world class in my day — I’m probably not old enough to use that phrase — and one-inthree was very good. I worked in the latter bracket and was happy. Now it is one a game.
The game has evolved, the standard of defending has gone up, but the records are regularly smashed. We must cherish and applaud
men like Salah.