Mohamed Salah has been backed to fail were Paris Saint-Germain to sign the attacker from Liverpool this summer for one simple reason.
Former Ballon d’Or winner Ruud Gullit suggests that Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah would not be good signing for Paris Saint-Germain because “he’s old.”
Year-in, year-out Salah has defied expectations on Merseyside. In his first season back in 2017/18 it was by breaking the then-record for goals scored in a Premier League campaign, and following that he has kept up such figures to become the club’s top scorer of the Premier League era, while sitting fifth on the all-time charts.
At 31 years of age he boasts 24 goal contributions in the league this term, which is bettered only by Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins – even though the Egyptian has played only had 136 minutes of club action since the turn of the year.
Now despite no evidence of slowing down yet, Gullit believes that Salah’s age means he could move from Liverpool to be a success as part of a PSG team that has all but one Ligue 1 title nine time over the last 11 years.
Gullit voiced this opinion during beIN SPORT’s Champions League coverage on Tuesday night. The French giants had just secured their spot in the quarter-finals of the competition, though look increasingly likely to lose talisman Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid this summer.
Host Richard Keys posed the idea of Salah as a potential multi-million pound replacement, boldly suggesting that “we know he is leaving [Liverpool]. Of course the No.11’s contract only runs through to 2025, and if not resolved before next winter then the Reds risk losing their star man for free also. Gullit was not keen on the move, and was challenged on the matter.
Keys asked: “Why did you dismiss the idea of Salah so quickly?”
“Because he’s old!”, Gullit responded bluntly.
“31! Harry Kane just went to Bayern Munich for £90m,” Keys tried to reason before Gullit added: “I came to England at 32, or something like that. That’s not an age you still have the power. It slowly, slowly goes down. There are exceptions – these are the small midfield players like [Luka] Modric, or something like that – but Salah is a striker and you have to run.”
Co-pundits Andy Gray and Didier Domi argued that there is the option to rest a player in their thirties as the French top-flight holds less pressure than that of the Premier League, with the potential for Salah to play at that level until he reaches 35-or-36-years-old.
“No, because if you go to Paris everyone is depending on you again. You can’t just rest. You have to do the same [as he has done at Liverpool] – that is the reason why he goes there,” Gullit retorted. “When I went to Chelsea I needed to play – I needed to play better than the rest. I had to deliver every week, you can’t just go there and say ‘well, not today, maybe tomorrow.’ No.”
As much as Salah has proven Gullit wrong, and may continue to do so now back in Liverpool training following an injury lay-off, what the Netherlands legend says could be what fans of the club hope to hear in one way.
While he is at an elite level Salah remains the Reds’ primary attacking asset and therefore supporters would not wish for him to be sold, whether that is to PSG or a Saudi Pro League outfit, but that is without suggesting he would not maintain his level elsewhere.
