Liverpool legend heaps praise on Mo Salah following brace
- Matthew Klimberg
Salah opened the scoring in the 21st minute as he and the returning Sadio Mane, who was making his first start in a month, embarked on a devastating counter from a West Ham corner. He also scored the dagger in the 76th minute to seal the victory.
The goals were the Egyptian international’s 11th and 12th in just 17 matches in all competitions. He’s also added four helpers to bring his direct goal contributions to 16 in his debut season at Anfield.
Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard didn’t mince words when asked about Salah’s contributions after the match. “I watched him a lot at Chelsea, and it didn’t really take off for him when he was a Chelsea player,” he explained to BT Sport. “But he’s come in and he’s been absolutely top-drawer this season. He’s been Liverpool’s best player by a mile.”
Salah returned to England after a masterful trio of seasons with AS Roma. During his time in the Italian capital, Salah became one of, if not the, premier right-wing in Serie A.
“Of course he hit real top form over at Roma, but you’re thinking, ‘is he a player suited to the Premier League?’ And when he first came I, along with a lot of Liverpool fans, wasn’t totally sure how it was going to work.”
“You’ve got to give the manager and the recruitment staff at Liverpool a huge amount of credit for spending that amount of money on a player who it hadn’t worked out for before.”
Early returns certainly peg Salah’s purchase by Liverpool for a, relatively, modest €42 million (which can rise to €50 million) as one of the great transactions in recent memory.