Relentless Mohamed Salah rises above Liverpool’s goalscoring legends with underrated trick

The Egyptian has now hit 20 or more goals for a seventh successive season, yet Jurgen Klopp is not surprised by the Liverpool forward’s prowess in front of goal

When Mohamed Salah joined Liverpool, the 20-goal barrier felt just that. In five of the seven previous seasons, Liverpool’s leading marksman finished with a tally in the teens. In 2016-17, the season they were scouting him at Roma, Philippe Coutinho led the way with 14.

In 2023-24, amid a rout of Sparta Prague, Salah made it 20 goals. That might not seem noteworthy, given he always does, given that he has raised the bar to such an extent that 30 can feel the new 20 for him. Salah has got there four times; he may yet make it 30 for a fifth campaign. Jurgen Klopp greeted news of the Egyptian’s 20th with a metaphorical shrug. “The stat is not really surprising, because he is an outstanding player,” he said.

Yet 20 is still a historic first. No one else had reached the milestone in seven successive seasons for Liverpool. Not Ian Rush or Kenny Dalglish, Robbie Fowler or Michael Owen, Kevin Keegan or Roger Hunt, not any of the succession of superb forwards who have graced Anfield. Instead, Salah has become Liverpool’s man for all seasons.

“In seven years together with him, the one problem we never had was consistency,” said Klopp. Salah, who never got 20 goals in a campaign before signing for Liverpool, has never failed to do so since then. His astonishing debut campaign on Merseyside yielded 44 but he has proved no one-season wonder.

“Mo is just delivering and delivering and delivering, his desire doesn’t stop, his quality is there and his desire to score doesn’t stop,” added Klopp. “He has improved in so many aspects since he started here. That’s how it is, he will not stop.”

And if Salah’s development reflects on his own relentlessness, it reflects well on Klopp, who first elevated him to a new level and then helped keep him there, who designed a formation where he could excel as a narrow winger, who created an environment that Salah was reluctant to quit for the Saudi millions, there was a timeliness to his latest feat: Michael Edwards, returning to Liverpool as Fenway Sports Group’s CEO of football, helped persuade Klopp to sign Salah instead of the less prolific Julian Brandt.

Even as Salah has amassed formidable figures, Klopp has rarely concentrated on the numbers themselves. Salah reached 18 for the season on New Year’s Day, 19 at Brentford in February. His manager had assumed he had already reached 20. “I’m less surprised than maybe some others, I thought it had already happened but he was injured for a while, otherwise he would have done it in January or February,” he said. “But great, very good, and great to have him back.”

Mohamed Salah reacts against Sparta Prague (Action Images via Reuters)

Sparta Prague brought Salah’s first start for Liverpool since the opening day of the year; he ended up playing 90 minutes after Bobby Clark had to go off, reducing his effort. “I told him not to defend anymore, I don’t think I’ve ever said that to a player before,” smiled Klopp. But that interruption to his season is an illustration that, until then, Salah was setting such a pace as to suggest he could get 40 goals this season. As it is, he looked enviably sharp ahead of Sunday’s trip to Manchester United, who have been among his favourite victims, but his bit-part role in the last 10 weeks means that, on an individual basis, it is unlikely to go down as his best campaign.

But the paradox in Salah is that, for a player often accused of selfishness, whose hunger for goals Klopp referenced, is also one of Liverpool’s finest creators. Salah recorded a hat-trick of assists against Sparta: it could have been five, but for a ridiculous miss by Darwin Nunez and a moment when Cody Gakpo strayed offside. It took him past Steve McManaman to 86 assists for Liverpool: of those to debut in the last six decades, when such statistics were first compiled, only Dalglish, Steven Gerrard and John Barnes have more; in that time, only Dalglish and Trent Alexander-Arnold have averaged fewer appearances per assist.

Mohamed Salah scored Liverpool’s third goal on Thursday night for his 20th of the campaign (PA Wire)

If Salah has been the great guarantee of goals, he has been a great provider of them, too. He is a major reason why the Klopp era has contained over 1,000 goals. When he wreaks havoc, others can capitalise: indeed, he has made it easier for others to score in his slipstream. Sadio Mane has reached 20 goals in three campaigns without outscoring Salah, Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota one apiece. Now Nunez is up to 17, despite his propensity for missing open goals.

They have been golden years for Liverpool; goal-filled years, too. Salah is taking the momentousness out of milestones by chalking them up on an annual basis, he has made it seem normal. But the fact that none of Liverpool’s other attacking greats has shown this level of potency for seven straight seasons shows it is really not normal.