Jamie Carragher has revealed the only overseas player in Premier League history he would put above Mohamed Salah after the Egyptian superstar announced he will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.
The 33-year-old is the third-highest scorer in Liverpool’s history and has won two Premier Leagues, the Champions League, the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup and the Club World Cup in his nine years at Anfield.
He has shattered records at Liverpool since he was signed from Roma in 2017, scoring 255 goals in 435 appearances in all competitions, and was the unanimous player of the year as the Reds lifted the Premier League title last season.
He signed a two-year contract extension towards the final weeks of last campaign but Liverpool said an agreement has been reached to end that early as he announced he would be exiting Anfield come the end of the current campaign.
Liverpool legend Carragher believes “the Premier League will soon be deprived of [a] world-class, generational talent” and, in his column for The Telegraph, declared that only one foreigner in the history of the Premier League has surpassed the efforts of Salah.
“In the pantheon of overseas attacking players to have excelled in England, only Thierry Henry eclipses Salah’s output and consistency,” wrote Carragher.
“While many will argue the merits of players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Eden Hazard, Gianfranco Zola, Dennis Bergkamp or Eric Cantona, none of them produced the same devastating numbers as consistently, season-after-season, as the Egyptian.
“Ronaldo’s time at Manchester United, both initially and upon his return, was either side of his absolute, Real Madrid-peak years. Salah edges ahead of him when judging strictly on Premier League performance and impact. In an all-time Premier League XI, Salah is an automatic inclusion in the front three alongside Henry and Ronaldo.”
Carragher praised Salah for altering the course of the club’s history in the Jurgen Klopp era and highlighted the signing of him and Virgil van Dijk as the two key bits of recruitment.
The former defender also lauded his creativity and his goalscoring record for the Reds but was keen to pinpoint another, underrated aspect Salah.
“It is his extraordinary availability,” added Carragher. “Across nine seasons at the highest level, Salah has made 435 appearances – an average of just over 48 games every single year for his club.
“These are extraordinary numbers given the relentless physical and mental intensity with which he and his team have played for most of that time.
“Nothing impresses me more in the game than world-class footballers who possess that desire never to miss a game. In Salah’s case, he would visibly sulk if he was substituted and had to miss even a single minute of action.
“Such demonstrations of petulance were often frowned upon by others. But give me the star who can’t stand sitting on the bench or in the stands over those who cannot get off the pitch quick enough, clutching a slight niggle. That hunger and resilience is a mark of true greatness.”
In his role as a pundit for Sky Sports, Carragher has sometimes butted heads with Salah, who hasn’t taken well to any criticism from the ex-defender.
But Carragher insists that is all water under the bridge and he was simply standing up for the club he loves.
“There are those who will inevitably list the occasional public disagreements between Salah and myself over the years and claim that there was some underlying personal problem between us,” said Carragher.
“Let me state without any hesitation: as a player, I absolutely love Mohamed Salah. When he delivered the occasional social media post or interview criticising the club or its decisions, it was my natural, instinctive reaction to defend Liverpool and take a dim view, in the same principled way I defended Chelsea against Enzo Maresca, or Manchester United against the perceived attacks of Ruben Amorim, which all occurred around the same time this season. My allegiance is, and always will be, to the club.”
