Evergreen Salah reminds Liverpool of his worth again

If delaying and running the clock down formed part of Liverpool's negotiating strategy, the problem they have is that, with every game, Mohamed Salah further strengthens his hand in contract talks. There can be a reason to wait before committing to a player in his thirties, to see if there is evidence of decline. Not when the player is Salah.

- RICHARD JOLLY

He can seem the great exception in this as in much else – the man who improves with time. While Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino languished in Saudi Arabia, lucratively rewarded for the reputations forged at Anfield, their old sidekick was spinning and shooting, scoring and starring in the Tyneside rain, equalling a personal best, setting a Premier League record. On an extraordinary night in Newcastle, there was something normal about how remarkable Salah’s performance was. Or there is something remarkable about how normal this feels from him.

In four weeks, he can discuss a summer free transfer to foreign clubs; among them is one that offered £150m for him in 2022, the Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad. “Give Mo the dough,” the banner on the Kop implores; if part of the calculation for Fenway Sports Group is not what he has done but what he will do, then, halfway through his 33rd year, Salah is the most dynamic, devastating attacker in the Premier League.

The numbers have underpinned everything Liverpool have done in the last decade, including Salah’s recruitment. He has always been a blend of style and statistics, his innate elegance allied with an urgency to suggest someone has pressed fast forward, but a player of such potency that can be judged on the numbers alone.