Liverpool star Mo Salah 'is not world class' claims former Premier League striker
There were some surprising claims made over Liverpool star Mo Salah.
A former Premier League striker has claimed Liverpool forward Mo Salah is not world class - despite conceding the Egyptian forward is ‘highly effective’ and ‘scores an unbelievable amount of goals’.
The Red star moved to Anfield from Roma in a deal worth an initial £36.5m during the summer of 2017 and has gone on to write his name in the club’s folklore by scoring 221 goals in 366 appearances. Salah helped the Reds become Champions League winners in 2019 and put an end to their long wait to become Premier League champions when he played an integral role alongside the likes of Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane as Jurgen Klopp’s side landed the title during the 2019/20 season.
The following campaign brought further success as Liverpool lifted the FA Cup and Carabao Cup with final wins against Chelsea in both competitions. Salah has also led the Reds to wins in the FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Community Shields during his seven-year stay on Merseyside.
There have been some suggestions the current season could be Salah’s last with Liverpool as he is out of contract at the end of the season - and new Reds head coach Arne Slot suggested recently it was up to the Egypt international and the club to find an agreement over a new deal. Former Watford striker Deeney has admitted his surprise over Liverpool allowing the forward to enter the final months of his current deal without an agreement - but stressed he did not view the Reds star as as world class player.
He told talkSPORT: "I think Mohamed Salah is excellent, he’s a pivotal part of Liverpool and they should never have let it (his expiring contract) get to this situation. But I understand that there’s a financial structure around what they want to try and keep to. My argument has always been that I just don’t think he’s world class. But world class is just a different opinion, what I think of world class is would I want my kids to play like that player? That's what I think is world class. If I was asking my kids who want to be forwards, I would be saying I would like them to look at what Vinicius Jr does as opposed to Mohamed Salah. But his goals that he [Salah] scores, he scores an unbelievable amount of goals, he's highly effective, but that’s just my opinion.”