Salah struck his 41st goal of the season in Liverpool’s 2-2 draw against West Brom on Saturday, the day before he was named by his peers as the Premier League’s top player ahead of rivals including Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne.
A week ago he became the first Reds player to hit 40 goals in a season since Ian Rush 31 years ago.
Premier League: 33 apps (31 goals)
Champions League: 12 (9)
FA Cup: 1 (1)
When you consider the strikers who have graced Anfield since then – chiefly, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez – it’s incredible that a player who isn’t a typical centre-forward, and who certainly wasn’t considered an out-and-out goalscorer when he signed last summer, has been the man to manage that impressive tally.
Even more astonishing is that he achieved it in mid-April, and potentially has six games left to match Rush’s record haul of 47 set in the 1983/84 season – a European Cup-winning campaign for the Reds, no less.
Salah is the new king of the Kop, but where does he rank among Liverpool’s greatest foreign imports? We list the 10 best – not including Irishmen – to have worn the Liverbird on their chests...
10. Roberto Firmino
Salah isn’t the only current player who makes the top 10, with Roberto ‘Bobby’ Firmino sneaking in ahead of Pepe Reina, Javier Mascherano, Dirk Kuyt and... er, Djimi Traore.
Firmino’s 25 goals so far this season have silenced the sceptics who questioned whether he should be Liverpool’s No.9 – but it’s not just his goals that have endeared him to Klopp and the Kop. Simply, the Brazilian makes Liverpool tick: he’s absolutely vital to the way his side plays and will continue to be a key player as his manager builds for a successful future.
9. Didi Hamann
The first member of the Istanbul cast – the man who came on at half-time to help change the 2005 Champions League Final, then dispatched the crucial first penalty despite having broken his foot in extra-time.
Like many from that era, Hamann won every trophy possible with Liverpool except the Premier League title. The German midfielder was key to the triple cup success under Gerard Houllier in 2000/01, and made almost 300 appearances for the club.
He also scored one of the best volleys ever seen at Anfield, against Portsmouth.
8. Philippe Coutinho
Liverpool fans might prefer he wasn’t in this list, but Coutinho’s quality and contributions to the club – 54 goals in 201 appearances – mean he must be included.
The Brazilian scored some huge goals for the Reds; most notably against Manchester City in 2013/14, and against both Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United in the Europa League two seasons later.
There was the odd free-kick and plenty of piledrivers from outside the box to keep the Anfield faithful entertained too, but overall Coutinho became more than just a player of infrequent flashpoints for Liverpool. His legacy is perhaps tarnished by his departure, but the £142 million Barcelona paid for him will go a long way to improving the squad further this summer.
7. Xabi Alonso
The first Spaniard in this list is the second member of that legendary Istanbul 2005 squad. Alonso’s passing mesmerised Anfield across 210 appearances from 2004 to 2009, though he could have left as early as 2008 when Rafa Benitez remarkably tried to replace him with Gareth Barry.
Alonso stayed put, however, and most Kopites still can’t quite fathom how that 2008/09 side didn’t win the title. To make matters worse, Liverpool were forced to replace him at the end of that campaign, and Alberto Aquilani was nowhere near as successful.
He was not only a wonderful footballer, but also seemed to grasp what it meant to play for the club and the city of Liverpool. Few men are as universally popular in the red half of Merseyside.
6. Fernando Torres
The man who made the Kop bounce – literally. Those in attendance at the Reds’ 2007/08 Champions League quarter-final against Arsenal swear that the Kop was shaking as they bounced to the song that half of England soon copied.
“Bounce in a minute” was all it needed. Liverpool fans were in love with Torres, and his departure to Chelsea in 2011 broke many hearts. That his time at Stamford Bridge was so disappointing – save for those Champions League heroics in 2012 – and that he was so clearly upset by it, means his reputation on Merseyside has recovered in recent years.
Overall, Torres netted 81 goals in 142 appearances for Liverpool, and could have been much higher on this list if things had worked out differently.
5. Bruce Grobbelaar
A Zimbabwean born in South Africa, Liverpool’s eccentric goalkeeper of the 1980s won it all with the Reds.
Grobbelaar spent 13 glorious years at Anfield having arrived to little fanfare in 1981, following a stint with the Vancouver Whitecaps and loan spell at Crewe. He played 628 times for the Reds thereafter, and wasn’t ousted until 1992/93 when David James came along.
By the end he'd won six league titles, three FA Cups, three League Cups, and – most memorably – the 1984 European Cup thanks to his ‘spaghetti legs’ in the penalty shootout against Roma.
4. Jan Molby
The Great Dane was the original pass-master, two decades before Alonso arrived on the scene.
He once scored a hat-trick of penalties against Coventry, and netted 42 times from the spot overall. Some say he also scored the best goal ever seen at Anfield, against Manchester United in 1985 (below).
That it was lost due to a TV rights dispute perhaps made the goal itself more impressive in the minds of those who were there. Not until a few years ago, when the strike was finally discovered on tape, was the myth somewhat debunked – but it's still some strike.
3. Sami Hyypia
Arguably the biggest bargain in Liverpool’s recent history; an under-the-radar signing who went on to become an undisputed legend at the club.
After Gerard Houllier’s botched attempt at a defensive overhaul in summer 1998, when five stoppers were signed with mixed success, Hyypia was snapped up for just £2.6m from Dutch side Willem II a year later.
A decade and 464 appearances on, the giant Finn had achieved heroic status. He was a first-team regular from the beginning, and later became a key figure in Liverpool’s Treble success of 2001 and Champions League victory in 2005.
In the latter competition, his early volley in the Reds’ quarter-final first leg against Juventus set them on their way to a 2-1 aggregate win.
2. Mohamed Salah
There’s no top spot for Mo just yet. We’re placing the Egyptian scoring sensation at second purely for the fact that he hasn’t yet completed a season at the club.
A Champions League winners’ medal would doubtlessly change all of that, but in the meantime the 25-year-old must help Liverpool overcome his former club Roma in the semi-finals.
Either way, his debut season in at Anfield has been nothing short of sensational. Salah has already equalled the 38-game record for Premier League goals, and set a new one for individual league matches scored in – 23 so far, adding two to the previous figure achieved by Cristiano Ronaldo (2007/08) and Robin van Persie (2012/13).
1. Luis Suarez
For now, then, top spot goes to the man who eventually mended the hearts broken by Torres’s departure – before he too left, and Liverpool ended up with Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert in his place.
The Kop, and red away ends up and down the country, just couldn’t get enough of Luis Suarez. His infectious winning mentality – and 31 goals – almost helped Liverpool to an unlikely league title in 2013/14, but ultimately the Uruguayan left with only a League Cup winners’ medal.
Much like Torres, Suarez should have won more, but it didn’t work out that way. His performance against Norwich at Anfield in December 2013, when he scored four times and assisted another, left fans at Anfield simply laughing in disbelief at what they were witnessing.
