Mohamed Salah is highly regarded as one of the greatest Premier League players of all time, with the Egyptian winger lighting up English football for a number of years. Now 33, the Liverpool star has announced hw will leave Anfield at the end of the 2025/26 season.
He’s the fourth-highest-scoring player in the division’s history, and will almost probably just fall short of Wayne Rooney’s 208 league strikes to move up a spot before departing. Supporters of the Merseyside-based outfit have fallen in love with the man affectionately known as the ‘Egyptian King’, with club icons even heaping praise on the electrifying wide player.
Steven Gerrard – perhaps the greatest player in the club’s history – has previously been glowing in his assessment of the Reds’ top Premier League scorer of all-time (per The Daily Mail): “I think he’s going to be one of these players that we’ll all appreciate even more when the day eventually comes when he moves on.”
While Gerrard is clearly a big fan of Salah, some players who previously pulled on the famous red shirt haven’t been as complimentary of the Egypt international. For example, Graeme Souness had some rather choice words for Salah following the winger’s infamous touchline spat with Jurgen Klopp against West Ham United in 2023.
Graeme Souness Slams Mo Salah
He branded the winger as ‘selfish’
FThen-manager Klopp had opted not to select the Egyptian winger for the trip to the London Stadium as the Reds looked to desperately cling on to their fading Premier League title hopes. When he finally called upon his clinical goalscorer, the German boss was seen exchanging words with the player at the side of the pitch before his introduction.
This opinion was doubled down on when Souness noted in his column for The Times: “He is perhaps as greedy a player as I have seen. All the top names have an element of that, but he is extremely selfish.”
Souness Claims Salah ‘Will Disappear’ in Games
He doesn’t think the Reds’ ace is willing to ‘get himself hurt’
Not only did he question whether Salah is a true team player, but the Liverpool legend went on to state he doesn’t think the Egypt international likes to get involved in aggressive battles with opponents on the pitch. Known for his hardman personaon the pitch, Souness said:
“When the going gets tough and another player puts it on him, Salah will disappear from a game.”
“Last season at Old Trafford, Lisandro Martínez went through him early on, and for the rest of the game Salah was looking over his shoulder for Martinez – he doesn’t like that side of the game. He’ll never get himself hurt.”
Souness was a hard-tackling, bruising midfielder during the peak of his playing days, while Salah is a graceful and elegant winger. The two are very different and clearly come with different ideas and approaches to the beautiful game.