As far as Thomas Frank was concerned, Brentford were beaten by the best on Sunday.
The Bees boss had seen his side lose 3-0 at Anfield to a Liverpool outfit looking determined to chase down Manchester City this season, and it was the man who scored two goals who Frank believes was largely responsible. “Mo Salah, [Jurgen] Klopp praises him a lot, but I actually don’t know if he gets enough praise,” said Frank. “Off the top of my head, there is a chance he’s the best player in the Premier League, potentially. In terms of goals and assists. What a level!
“He must be one of the best offensive players in the world. Like, not top 10, but top three. So when you have a player of that quality [against you], you just know there is a problem.”
Liverpool’s transfer stance on Kalvin Phillips emerges after Pep Guardiola’s green light Virgil van Dijk’s private chat with Liverpool starlet promoted to first-team speaks volumes Mike Walters Without blowing smoke where the sun doesn’t shine, some of us tipped to win the title and for Salah to be the 2023-24 Footballer of the Year. Neither is a done deal yet – not by a long chalk – but a point off the summit and 12 goals to date in all competitions this season suggests both punts are not a million miles off course. Whatever the future may hold for Salah, when history judges his contribution to Liverpool, he will not only be an Anfield legend – he will be a Premier League great.
For some considerable time, Salah has been the best player in the Premier League and that remains the case. Only Kevin de Bruyne has rivalled the Egyptian for consistent brilliance.
In fact, his variety of goals, his ingenuity and his mesmerisingly quick feet make Salah one of the finest footballers never to win the Ballon D’Or. He is an extraordinary operator on so many levels, no least a physical one. The statistics for goals and assists are remarkable but you can only clock up those numbers if you are fit and firing week in, week out. Since joining Liverpool in the summer of 2017, there have only been ten Premier League games in which Salah has not appeared. He was on the bench for three of those games and away on international duty for two. He missed another through Covid.
So we thought we’d give the Mirror Football team a problem too. Is Salah the best in the league? And if he isn’t, who is?
Two hundred goals in six years – that’s a lot. As the great Brian Clough might have said, if Mo Salah isn’t the best player in the world, he’s in the top one. That’s why Saudi power-brokers are prepared to pay £200,000,000,000,000 (or however many noughts are applicable) to make the Egyptian king their marquee signing.
