Jan Molby has no doubt that Mohamed Salah will go down as one of Liverpool’s most iconic strikers – but believes a lack of league titles could give legendary figures Ian Rush and Sir Kenny Dalglish the edge in the Anfield debate of all time.
Salah inspired Liverpool to a stunning 7-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday when he unleashed a brace against Erik ten Hag’s side and with his two goals in the second half the Egyptian moved ahead of Robbie Fowler to become the top scorer all-time Reds in Premier League history with 129 goals.
The 30-year-old double, who has taken his tally against the Red Devils to 10 goals in 11 games since joining in 2017, also allowed him to close the gap on Fowler to five in the club’s all-time charts , while occupying a place in the top 5 seems within reach by the end of the current season as former captain Steven Gerrard is just seven goals clear and two places ahead of the Egyptian who is currently in seventh place.
This summer will mark six years since Chelsea’s one-off rejection was identified by influential recruiting figures Michael Edwards, Dave Fallows and Barry Hunter as the ideal match for a Liverpool frontline that has become too dependent on Sadio Mane in the final months of the year had become the 2016/17 season.
Since returning to England for a second bite in the cherry, the Egyptian has fired Liverpool into national and continental royalty as he played an integral role with the Reds, adding a sixth European Cup and 19th league title to the Anfield showroom . Salah has also won the FA Cup, League Cup, Super Cup, Community Shield and Club World Cup during his remarkable career with Merseyside.
But despite Salah having fired Liverpool to over 90 points in three different Premier League seasons, Salah has just one league title to his name for his remarkable exploits. On the other hand, Rush and Dalglish won an incredible 11 Premier League titles during their playing days at Anfield.
And the Dane, who signed for Liverpool under Joe Fagan in the summer of 1984 and played more than 250 games for the club, insists Salah is on top with his former teammates Dalglish and Rush, who are widely regarded as Anfield’s most iconic players. the strikers never looked up.
Speaking exclusively to ECHO, Molby said: “I mean obviously there’s one thing you see with your own eyes when he’s playing and what a good player he is and then the stats back it all up because it’s is season after season after season. It is available for every training session, it is available for every match. Offers every season. What more can you say?
“I think in terms of his influence and impact on Liverpool he is on par with any of them but the biggest problem he will have over time is his lack of trophies compared to some of the others. But there are no doubts. ” terms of its impact which is among the best”.
Despite turning 30 last June, Salah’s continued importance to Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp was underlined when he was awarded the most lucrative contract in the club’s history, tying him to the Reds until the summer of 2025. And although the Egyptian has struggled at times to reach his peak this season as he and the rest of his team-mates felt the effects of a blistering 63-game campaign last time out, the striker has started to forging a new relationship Recruits Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo in recent weeks.
While the trio, who all picked up a brace against Old Trafford on Sunday, will be crucial if Liverpool are to stage the most extraordinary European comeback in their 131-year history and close their three-goal deficit against Real Madrid next week, Molby believes The Performances Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk ahead of Alisson Becker will decide whether the Reds finish in the last eight of the Champions League for the fifth time since 2017.
“You wouldn’t have believed this possible before the Manchester United result. They wouldn’t even have thought about it,” Molby said. “Now you think there might be a chance. Real Madrid haven’t had great results since winning at Anfield and Liverpool are slowly improving.
I think the most important thing if we’re going to reverse that three-goal deficit is that we keep a clean sheet now because that’s going to be absolutely crucial.”
The former Reds midfielder spoke to MurWalls at an event where he became Anfield’s latest icon, celebrated with a mural on Sybil Road as he joined Jordan Henderson, Ian St John, Roger Hunt and Trent Alexander-Arnold connected.
Speaking of his awe at the incredible work of art, which sits a stone’s throw from Anfield and was created in less than 12 hours by Britain’s street artists earlier this week, Molby said: “My wife m said a few months ago and you man hears a lot of things one knows and it’s always a long way to get to anything but next on the agenda is March 8, meeting with Troy Hawke and unveiling of the mural.
“I’ve been walking around the Anfield area for a number of years and I see them all popping up on the walls and paying tribute to some of the best players in club football history. I’ll be honest, I never thought that there was a reason my face was there.”