Why Mohamed Salah Is the Perfect Signing For Liverpool
After weeks of waiting for Liverpool and Roma to agree a fee, Mohamed Salah is finally a Red. Signing Salah signals a change at the club as Liverpool are finally able to take a key player from a top European club. Roma just finished second in the Serie A but Salah still wanted to join Liverpool.
Not only is this a showing of change at the club, but it’s also a perfect signing. Salah is exactly what Liverpool need. When Sadio Mané was at the African Cup of Nations, it was clear how much Liverpool needed his pace. There was nobody at the club who even came close to offering what Mané does, until now.
Salah is just as, if not faster than Mané. Now Liverpool will have two speedy wingers running in behind defences. He reduces the depends on Mané and brings much needed pace and penetration to a side that lacks it.
Another important outcome in signing Salah is Philippe Coutinho’s position next season. He will now be moved from the left wing position he played during most of last season and he will most likely find himself in midfield, which many would consider his best position. We’ve seen what Coutinho can do playing in midfield, so signing a Salah will allow him to play there much more often.
This makes the signing of Salah even more important. With Coutinho playing deeper, he can really flourish as he picks out the amazing movement of Salah, Mané and Roberto Firmino. That front four could be deadly and take Liverpool’s attacking game to the levels of the 2013/14 season. Coutinho picking passes from deep and Firmino creating space for the Salah and Mané will definitely have defences chasing shadows.
So, in terms of team setup and style of play, Salah will make Liverpool significantly better, but there’s much more to him. Last season, he scored 15 goals and had 11 assists. This is an outstanding amount for a winger.
He is one of eight players in Europe’s top five leagues to reach double digits in both goals and assists. He also created 71 chances, only bettered by Firmino at Liverpool and only Luis Suárez, Eden Hazard and Neymar have created more chances in the box than Salah. The Egyptian also impresses on the defence side too, making 11 interceptions and 22 tackles.
Salah has also only missed seven games due to injury in his two-and-a-half years in Italy. With Liverpool having so many injuries last season, having a player who rarely gets injured is a bonus!
There are those who say that Salah is a Chelsea reject, well so are Daniel Sturridge, Kevin de Bruyne, Ryan Bertrand, Petr Cech, Filipe Luis and Juan Cuadrado, Nemanja Matic, David Luiz and Romelu Lukaku. Clearly not making it at Chelsea isn’t an indication of future success!
Salah was 21 years old during that spell and after a successful time in Italy he comes back to England a different player and man.
The purchase of Salah is exactly what Liverpool need. His dribbling, pace, creatively and eye for goal could take the club one step closer to challenging for the league once again.