Former Liverpool forward Dean Saunders backed Mohamed Salah to finish top goalscorer in the Premier League next season and suggested that Naby Keita and Fabinho would boost the attacker’s hunt for goals.
The 54-year-old, who scored 11 goals in 42 outings for the Reds, heaped praise on the Egyptian winger and dismissed the idea that the Reds’ star man was set to be a one-season wonder.
Saunders shared that he thought with Jurgen Klopp bringing Keita and Fabinho to Anfield this summer than the two new recruits would win the ball back for the Reds and set Salah on the attack quicker than ever before.
“I think this year he’s going to finish top scorer again,” said Saunders on talkSPORT, which can be heard via their website.
“He’s no one-season wonder, and there are a few reasons why.
“But I’ve looked on Salah’s goalscoring record, and you can go back to when he was playing for Fiorentina and Roma – he’s made 303 appearances and score 121 goals so far.
“He’s getting better and better every season.
“Plus, Liverpool have signed Keita and Fabinho, who are going to win the ball back and give it to him earlier. He’s going to get more service this year than he did last season.
“A lot of his goals are poachers goals, so he’s not like Philippe Coutinho who almost every time he scored was in the top corner – they dry up, you can only do that for so long.
“He got 44 goals last season, I would say 30 of them were poachers goals – a couple were spectacular and a he got a few headers.
“His movement is brilliant and his football brain is a step ahead of everybody else. So even though you know when he’s going to run, you can’t stop him.
“His feet are electric. If you get too close to him in the box, he’s gone past you.”
“It’s going to be hard for his to score 44 goals again, but I still think he’s get over 25 and will finish up near 30.”
OPINION
The Reds spent £39million (Source: BBC Sport) on signing Fabinho and £52.7million on recruiting Keita (Source: Sky Sports) and it will be money well spent if they make the already lethal Salah even more prolific. Saunders makes a very good case for why the Egyptian international is set to be among the goals again and there will be few who can argue with his assessment of the attacker ahead of the new season. The 26-year-old has already got on the scoresheet in pre-season and looks raring to go again. Salah will have the spotlight thrust upon him as soon as the 2018/19 campaign kicks off as pundits will be waiting to dub him a one-season wonder as soon as they can. However they probably won’t get the opportunity as it’s hard not to imagine Salah starting the season in prolific form as he got better and better as the 2017/18 campaign went on. While an injury ruined his moment to sign in the Champions League final, he will ensure he gets another chance a glory as soon as he can.
