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There were a lot of doubts when Liverpool signed Mohammed Salah for a fee of around £34-42 Million last year from Italian side AS Roma. The small Egyptian didn't make his mark in his first spell with Chelsea. As a former Chelsea outcast, he joined the esteemed list of Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, and Juan Mata, in seeking newer pastures after not making the grade at Chelsea. Salah left for Fiorentina and then Roma on loan, before signing a permanent deal with AS Roma and forging a strong partnership with Edin Dzeko.
When he was returning to Premier League, little did anyone know that he would snatch the golden boot, from the clinical finisher and striker Harry Kane, and be hailed as the 'Egyptian King'. Not only did he beat Kane to win the Golden Boot with a record number of goals (32), he won both the PFA (Professional Footballers' Association Players' Player of the year) and FWA (The Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year) Player of the Year. In Europe's biggest club stage, he scored 11 goals in 15 games. Liverpool was just one of the two teams from the premier league to beat Manchester City last season, and they did it 3 out of 4 times. Guess who was on the scoresheet each time?
So the real question begins here, can Mo Salah replicate or match his incredible haul of last season?
The short answer is, not exactly. He won't reach the heights, but won't be quite off the mark either. Now that players and managers have got a real glimpse of him, they would have studied and analysed his strengths and weaknesses thoroughly. Liverpool devised a system with 4-3-3 formation where Salah plays as a Right Winger, and sometimes forward with Firmino drifting wide or dropping back to defend. This allows Salah a lot of space and creative freedom. But as Manchester United, Chelsea and teams like Everton found out, Liverpool with Salah marked out of the game or without Salah, is an entirely different average team. Firmino is an excellent player, so is Sadio Mane, but none of these players can drive the team forward like Mo Salah.
The element of surprise worked in Salah's favor last year. It will be certainly harder for Salah to match last season's achievements, even though Liverpool have considerably strengthened their midfield with the signings of Keita and Fabinho. But I certainly feel that the ceiling and bar Salah set for himself to eclipse is too high. Matching that haul itself would be an incredible achievement and the best case scenario. Improving those numbers could be quite a daunting challenge even for Salah.
