Despite being on the wrong side of 30 and constant rumors about saudi arabia, liverpool’s egyptian king has gone from strength to strength and proved himself to be as important as ever to jurgen klopp’s squad. He scored 200 goals for liverpool and 150 in the premier league earlier this season. Salah has 12 goals (only erling haaland has more) and seven assists (only ollie watkins has more) at the halfway point of the 2023/24 premier league season, with no top-flight player registering more combined goal involvements than the winger’s 19. It’s even more impressive from the number 11 in terms of 2023 as a whole. Salah is the only player to reach 15 goals and 15 assists in europe’s ‘big five’ leagues in 2023, as shown by opta, highlighting what a unique attacking threat he is. Salah is the first premier league player to score 15+ goals and assists in a calendar year since arsenal legend thierry henry achieved it 20 years ago in 2003. No player can match salah’s 39 goal involvements in 2023 (24 goals, 15 assists), according to opta’s michael reid, and this is the fourth time the egyptian has ended the year as the top or joint-top in this statistic. Salah contributed 49 goal contributions to all competitions in 2023, a figure that was only achieved by three players in europe.
Salah’s continued success has made a joke about those who believed the former roma star was past his peak and that liverpool would be better off selling him during the summer. Jurgen klopp claimed that the 31-year-old was not biologically similar to other players and has the same bones as a teenager earlier this season. “mo doesn’t act like he’s 30 at all,” he said. Off the field, he behaves like a mature man, but beyond that he is still a young player. I think he is a top fit if we were to scan him, the bulk of his bones are aged 19 or 20! He just keeps himself in such good shape. “i can’t compare mo to other 30-year-olds because i don’t think he is the same biologically.” Salah’s current liverpool contract will expire in the summer of 2025, just before he turns 33. In the wake of the saudi pro league’s continuing interest, there has been a lot of talk about whether he will extend his contract once more – he is now the club’s highest-paid player ever – or be allowed to leave in the summer. According to his statistics, it would be foolish to keep him at anfield.
