Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has urged the Reds to tie Mohamed Salah down to a new contract, labelling the winger as an “all-time Liverpool great”.
The Egyptian international scored his 100th Premier League goal during the Reds’ 3-0 victory over Leeds United at Elland Road on Sunday, with 98 of those coming for Jurgen Klopp‘s side.
Carragher was full of praise for the winger when he spoke to Sky Sports News: “He is massively important and sometimes I feel sorry for Mo Salah because I think he goes under the radar in terms of Liverpool. When people talk about Liverpool winning the league, they always go back to Liverpool signing Alisson Becker and Virgil Van Dijk. Mo Salah came in six months before [Van Dijk].
“It is the three of them but everyone mentions that it was the goalkeeper and the centre-back that took Liverpool to this next level. Mo Salah is a huge part of that. We should not forget as well that Salah plays from the right. Yes, he is a wide forward but he does not play through the centre. He is Johnny on the spot.
“If he goes a few games without a goal you just think there is one coming because it is Mo Salah. That is just how it is. While Liverpool have not spent big this summer like other teams, they have had a lot of players sign new contracts. The one that is yet to sign is Mo Salah.
“Now, he obviously wants a few quid, and rightly so. Good luck to him. He deserves it. He deserves to be one of the highest paid players in the Premier League for what he has done since he came to Liverpool, he really does. He is never injured and year after year he is top goalscorer. He just is. That is what he is.”
The former Reds centre-back went on to say he would pick Salah in his all-time Liverpool XI: “I will say something else. When you pick your all-time Liverpool XI, there are positions where you just think, ‘He is in.’ Alan Hansen, Graeme Souness, John Barnes, Steven Gerrard, Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish. You could fill all those positions no matter what this team does.
“There is nobody you ever think of on the right. Mo Salah will be in that position when he finishes his Liverpool career. He will be in that all-time Liverpool XI. There is no doubt for me about that. When you think about strikers getting to 29 or 30, we talk about Cristiano Ronaldo being 36, that guy is a machine in terms of how he looks after himself.
“I think Mo Salah is as professional as Ronaldo, he looks after his body and I think there are a lot of years left in Mo Salah so I just hope this gets sorted sooner rather than later.
“You always debate about money, the player wants a bit more, the club wants a bit less, but that needs to be sorted. Fingers crossed it will because he deserves it for what he has done for Liverpool.”
Since arriving at Anfield in 2017, Salah has scored 128 goals in 207 appearances for Liverpool in all competitions.
