Why Mo Salah is NOW the greatest forward Liverpool have ever had?

Mohamed Salah is one of the best passers in the Premier League, which seems a funny thing to say about a player best known for scoring goals.

But watch Liverpool play this season and you will see the evidence. Left foot, right foot. Short and long. Occasionally even with this head.

Were Darwin Nunez not taking so long to morph from footballing ingenue to a reliable scorer of goals, Liverpool would probably be further ahead at the top of the table than they are. It is, unfortunately for him and indeed Liverpool, Nunez who tends to miss most of the chances Salah provides.

When we think about all this, it’s probably worth considering what Salah used to be and the low point from which the Egyptian has risen.

It was at Burnley in August 2019 when Salah clashed spectacularly with team-mate Sadio Mane after choosing not to pass to the Senegalese forward at Turf Moor. Mane was so visibly upset with Salah that he had to be substituted to prevent a very public row from escalating.

It was something and nothing, for sure. Footballers bicker all the time. But it was telling simply because that was how Salah was back then. The truth is that he was selfish.

He often chose to shoot when a pass appeared to be the better option and it was something that his astonishing goal numbers only partially covered up.

Liverpool left back Andy Robertson talked about that Burnley game in his book and concluded: ‘Mo was accused of selfishness in some quarters but his single-mindedness in front of goal is one of his greatest assets.’

People in football often say this about centre forwards. They often say selfishness is really just desire wrapped up in a will to win. But it’s not really true. A striker who chooses to shoot from a daft angle when someone is better placed serves absolutely nobody and the fact is that Salah used to do this in a manner that, for example, former Liverpool greats such as Ian Rush never did.

But now, at the age of 31, he has changed. Not overnight but gradually. This is what maturity does but also what good coaching does. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is perhaps best known for his ability to bring a group of players together, to make hard work feel like fun and for his commitment to football played moving forwards. But Klopp improves players, too, and Salah, along with someone like Trent Alexander-Arnold, is currently the most obvious proof of that.

Watching Liverpool over-run Newcastle at Anfield on Monday was to witness Salah’s modern genius. Two goals and a missed penalty but also endless cute and clever passes — often delivered at an almost perfect weight — into the feet of Nunez and others.

Klopp’s team are once again hypnotic to watch this season and it is possible to see another great Liverpool side coming together. Curtis Jones has taken quick strides in midfield while Joe Gomez has rediscovered confidence and authority. Meanwhile the Hungarian Dominik Szoboszlai looks a superb addition.

I suspect they are another central defender and maybe a holding player away from greatness but Salah remains fundamental to all of it in a way I perhaps didn’t foresee.

When the Saudi Pro League landed on Liverpool’s doorstep with an enormous offer for Salah last August, it seemed briefly as though he may leave. I thought Liverpool may cope if they took an astronomical sum and spent it well, but I feel now that I was probably wrong.

Salah is irreplaceable and that will remain the case until Nunez develops or Liverpool go back to the market and find another regular supplier of goals.

It’s hard to watch Nunez at the moment. I predicted last season he would score 20 goals this time round and that is going to be way off. The Uruguayan has power, strength, speed and a knack for finding space in the right places. But as long as he remains as erratic as his statistics suggest, Liverpool will continue to rely heavily on Salah, a player now preparing for a January spent at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Salah will have just a year left on his contract in the summer and the accepted wisdom is that he will leave.

Liverpool will do their best to sell a vision of further glory and theirs will be a strong and worthy case. But Salah has spent almost seven of his best years on Merseyside and there should be no blame if he chooses to finish elsewhere.

He was a brilliant player for Liverpool when they were winning everything they possibly could a few years ago, perhaps even the best forward player the club has ever had. He’s an even better footballer now, though, and I didn’t expect to be saying that.