When Mohamed Salah arrived at Anfield in the summer of 2017, no one could have anticipated the amount of success the Egyptian King was about to bring to Liverpool.
The pacey winger had already failed in the Premier League after an ill-fated stint with Chelsea, and many were wondering whether he would have what it takes to be the talisman of Jurgen Klopp’s team. Impressive stints with both Fiorentina and Roma said that he had plenty of ability, but would that translate to the cut-throat nature of the English top flight?
Well, fast-forward nine years, and now Salah is regarded as one of the greatest Reds of all time. Throughout his epic stint with the club, the Egypt international helped end the club’s 30-year wait for a Premier League title, claiming the coveted prize in 2020 before adding another in 2025.
As well as that, Liverpool reached three Champions League finals with Salah in the team, winning one of them against Spurs in 2019, albeit losing the other two to Real Madrid.
Salah’s goalscoring Heroics
Salah has amassed some 257 goals at Anfield, making him the club’s third all-time top scorer behind Ian Rush and Roger Hunt. Not only that, but he has finished as top scorer in each of his eight completed seasons with the club; however, it looks like that epic run will come to an end in his ninth and final season on Merseyside.
The two-time Premier League player of the season has managed just 12 goals this term and currently sits five behind Hugo Ekitike with just four games remaining.
The output is the lowest of Salah’s Liverpool career and by some distance. In each of his previous eight seasons, he has managed to hit the 20-goal mark, while surpassing 30 goals in five of them.
But the downturn in form has ultimately triggered the club and its greatest player of recent times to part ways at the end of the season, with the powers that be at Anfield clearly feeling like his best days are behind him as he turns 34 this summer.
Unfortunately for the Reds, the drop-off in form has coincided with Liverpool sliding out of title contention. Still, Champions League qualification should be secured with a top-five finish, but online betting sites still feel like anything higher than that could be out of reach.
One can bet on soccer at Bovada, and the betting giant currently lists Arne Slot’s side as a 4/5 shot to finish in the top four this term, with both Aston Villa (1/2) and Manchester United (2/17) both considered far more likely.
With Ekitike set to usurp Salah as top scorer this season, it got us thinking: When was the last time someone other than Mohamed Salah was Liverpool’s top scorer? And what was happening in the world of football back then?
Well, the season was 2016/17, and the Egyptian hadn’t even arrived at Anfield. Philippe Coutinho finished as the Reds’ top scorer that term, netting 14 goals in Jurgen Klopp’s first full season in charge. But what did the beautiful game look like back then? Let’s take a look.
Klopp secures Liverpool’s Champions League return
Heading into the 2016/17 season, Liverpool hadn’t qualified for the Champions League in three years. In fact, they had dined at European football’s most elite dinner table once in the last seven years. Former manager Jurgen Klopp was determined to change that. In his first full season in charge, he added the likes of Sadio Mané and Georginio Wijnaldum, as well as implementing his famed “heavy-metal” high-pressing system.
The results spoke for themselves. The Reds picked up a league double against top-four rivals Arsenal, as well as beating would-be champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and defeating Manchester City at Anfield. Heading into the final round of fixtures, Liverpool just needed to beat already relegated Middlesbrough at Anfield to secure their Champions League return, and ultimately, they were up to the task, with goals from Wijnaldum, Coutinho, and Adam Lallana sealing a 3-0 win.
Neymar was about to become the world’s most expensive player
Just a few weeks on from Liverpool securing Champions League qualification and Coutinho ending the season as top scorer, Paris Saint-Germain were about to change the football world forever.
The French champions paid a whopping €222 million to trigger Brazilian winger Neymar’s Barcelona release clause, leaving the Blaugrana no choice but to watch one third of their fearsome MSN strike force – namely Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar – leave the club.
The fee absolutely obliterated the previous transfer record, which was previously set at the €105m that Manchester United paid Juventus to sign Paul Pogba 12 months prior.
The Parisians were determined to get their man after Neymar masterminded the stunning Remontada in that season’s Champions League, with the Brazilian netting twice and providing an assist as Barcelona scored three times in the final five minutes to dump PSG out of the Champions League. And ultimately, get their man they did, in blockbuster fashion.
Real Madrid became the first team to win back-to-back Champions League crowns
Before 2017, no team had ever won back-to-back Champions League crowns. Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid would ultimately put that hoodoo to bed. They won the Champions League for the second time in three seasons when they defeated Atlético Madrid on penalties in the 2016 final, just as they had two seasons prior. In 2017, they successfully defended the crown.
Inspired by the blistering form of a certain Cristiano Ronaldo, Los Blancos dismantled Juventus in Cardiff. CR7 netted a brace, with Casemiro and Marcos Asensio also getting on the scoresheet in a resounding 4-1 win. The following year, they would make it a three-peat, defeating Salah’s Reds in Kyiv after a pair of stunning strikes from Gareth Bale.
