Darren Bent suggests Liverpool have a ‘superstar’ player who’s even better than Kevin De Bruyne

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Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is a ‘bigger’ player than Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne.

So says TalkSPORT pundit Darren Bent. Given the choice of picking between the two Champions League winners by co-host Andy Goldstein, Bent said that although it was close, he’d be choosing Liverpool’s Egyptian King.

“You look at Mo Salah, De Bruyne, Lukakau, these three guys were at Chelsea, they left and went on to become superstars of world football,” the former England striker began.

“Take Lukaku out, out of the two who are left, who’s the bigger player? De Bruyne?” Goldstein queried.

“Oh no, I’m going Salah probably,” replied Bent, a choice that left his Manchester United-supporting co-host speechless.

“Are you?! Who would you rather have, you’d have De Bruyne over Salah?” Goldstein hit back.

“I don’t know, Salah wins games on his own. I love De Bruyne, I’m not disrespecting him,” Bent said. “Some people can say De Bruyne, I’ve got no problem with that, but I don’t think it’s as definitive as people saying, ‘what a ____ question, it’s definitely De Bruyne.’

“It’s down to opinion. If someone said ‘De Bruyne all day,’ I wouldn’t say ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about ‘ because he’s a great player. But Salah, the goals that he’s scored…”

Bent calls clash of the titans

Obviously, this is a pretty impossible question to answer. Salah and De Bruyne are two very, very different players.

But at the same time, it is one worth throwing out there. Each man has been more-or-less the symbol of his team – the best two in the country – over the past six or seven years.

If it comes down to trophies won, then De Bruyne takes it by an absolute stretch. But that shouldn’t be the biggest factor when looking at individual players.

Instead, looking at individual influence, it is very close indeed.

Both Salah and De Bruyne have numerous, prestigious personal awards to their names. They have two PFA Player’s Player of the Year gongs each, for example.

De Bruyne has won three Premier League Playmaker of the year awards for the top assister of the season. Salah has one of those on his mantlepiece, as well as a hat-trick of Premier League Golden Boots. It really is close.

As Bent points out, plenty will be blinded by De Bruyne’s success with Man City and declare it a non-contest. But in reality, these two are much closer than many would give Mo credit for. In our opinion, our No.11 shades it, but then we’re biased!