Salah or Drogba, who is the greatest? - East Africa's view

After the 29-year-old Egypt international scored a hat-trick in the 5-0 demolition of Manchester United to reach a new tally of 107 goals and surpass the former Ivory Coast captain as the highest-scoring African player in Premier League, Goal sought to know who is the greatest between the two African players overall.

Below is what journalists from East Africa had to say.

I can’t compare Salah and Drogba other than the former has surpassed the latter’s African scoring record in the Premier League.

Stats will rate Salah as the better goal scorer but as a winger, he relies on his great footwork to get goals while Drogba was a traditional number nine, a target man, who depended on his raw power and being fed the ball mostly in and around the box to score.

Two great players, but different eras. It is hard to separate the two but what Salah has done for Liverpool in the last four seasons is commendable.

He is enjoying his football and I can say slightly he's better than Drogba.

Drogba and Salah are forever legends and true sons of the soil. They’ve represented Africa with pride and honour. Any attempt to compare them would be disastrous, owing to fact that their reign and circumstances are different.

Since Salah is still active, I hope he can achieve more, more specifically become the second African player to win the Fifa Ballon d'Or after Liberia President George Weah.

Both are equally important, Drogba was a game-changer who could capitalise on half chances to give Chelsea wins. He was a bully, a physically fit attacker who was feared by defenders, and his goals speak volumes.

Salah is intelligent and a hard worker as well. He is good at positioning and having skilled players behind him is a plus. More goals to come from him for sure.

Yes…he [Salah] is the top African goalscorer in the Premier League with 107 goals, he has been in the top three of leading scorers in the top-flight in the past four seasons and now he is creating goals for others like Naby [Keita] and Sadio [Mane].

Salah is simply Liverpool's best talisman ever and his new tally of goals is clear prove that he is better than Drogba.

Although Drogba and Salah can be said to have operated in different generations, each deserves respect for what they have achieved.

But Salah's achievement reverberates more since he has done it in his second trial in the Premier League after an initial ‘failure’ at Chelsea.

Drogba and Salah are great, but the Egyptian King is in a better place to establish himself as a better player than the Ivorian given that age and time are still on his side.