Jurgen Klopp says Mohamed Salah has grown as a player and as a person since arriving at Liverpool in 2017.
In the six years since Salah joined the Reds from Roma, the Egyptian has become a bona fide Liverpool icon. His winning goal against Brentford yesterday gave him his 30th of the season, his 100th at Anfield and saw him become the first Reds player in history to score in nine successive home games. After all this, Klopp was asked to comment on his No.11 in his post-match interview with BBC Sport.
“Come on, we said everything about Mo but he deserves the praise,” gushed the manager. “This is obviously not our season so far, it’s not that we are flying. So for an offensive player to use the few chances you have is really tricky, but he is a machine in that department.”
There is also another side to Salah’s game, though. Something Klopp knows very well and has seen grow and develop during his time at the club. As good as he is as a goal scorer, Salah is also crucial to Liverpool’s defending.
“Today it was so important how he defended, how he was involved in these moments,” said the German. “It’s great, he grew here as a player obviously but as a personality as well. I know that Mo knew before the game that it could happen [scoring nine games in a row] and knows it now, it’s good and same for Ali [Alisson who claimed his 100th clean sheet], long may it continue.”
Salah keeps on breaking records
Has any signing in Liverpool history surpassed expectations like Salah has? Brought in as a Chelsea flop who’d had an Italian renaissance, there was a certain level of scepticism about his arrival six years ago.
The Egypt international wasn’t everyone’s first choice, put it that way. Even Klopp himself was reportedly keen to sign Bayer Leverkusen’s Julian Brandt instead.
But all those doubters were quickly forced into being believers. The sheer determination of Salah to prove himself in the Premier League saw to that.
In terms of goal scoring, Mo has never again hit the kind of numbers he did in his remarkable debut season at Liverpool. Despite that, he’s proven himself 1,000 times over since.
In doing so, the 30-year-old has become one of the superstars of world football. With that comes a certain responsibility, and Salah is about as perfect-a role model as you could wish to find.
Now one of the senior players in this Liverpool team, youngsters like Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho couldn’t have a better play to look up to. Salah has changed alright, changed and grown for the better.