‘They’ll go crazy’ – Mohamed Salah makes ‘crazy’ confession and acknowledges major Liverpool shift

Mohamed Salah has had an outstanding start to the season with Liverpool but is set to be out of contract next summer.

Salah is already aiming for Premier League or Champions League success this season. The Egyptian forward has begun the season in remarkable form, netting three goals and providing three assists in the first three games.

Liverpool, enjoying a perfect start to the season under new head coach Arne Slot, currently sits second in the table, trailing only the reigning champions, Manchester City, on goal difference.

Although Salah’s contract at Anfield expires next summer, the ECHO reported earlier this week that he wishes to remain at Liverpool. This came after Salah mentioned that contract negotiations had not yet started and hinted it might be his final season with the club, following his standout performance in Liverpool’s 3-0 win against Manchester United last weekend.

Whether this will indeed be the 32-year-old’s last season at Liverpool remains uncertain. However, with his impressive start to the campaign, Salah has alleviated concerns about Liverpool’s potential after Jurgen Klopp’s departure, focusing on securing a “big trophy” to add to his already extensive list of achievements with the club.

In a recent Q&A with the Premier League, Salah commented, “We’ve had a few conversations” with Slot, referring to the team’s good performance so far. “I think so far the team is playing good, which is the most important thing. Myself also playing well.

We just need to carry on and try to win a big trophy this season. I love playing big games for the club. United, everybody knows the history between both clubs. I think first two seasons, I didn’t score. That’s crazy. I think people were saying like he doesn’t like big games or he’s not doing good enough in that big game, but I was lucky to score my first goal and after that things come easier.”

Currently, Salah ranks as Liverpool’s fifth all-time leading goalscorer with 214 goals from 352 appearances. He is 10th on the Premier League’s all-time list with 160 goals and joint-12th in the Champions League with 44 goals.

Having scored more than 25 goals in all but one of his last seven seasons with Liverpool, Salah is well-positioned to climb further up these rankings. A 31-goal season would elevate him to third place in Liverpool’s all-time rankings, surpassing Billy Liddell and Gordon Hodgson, while a 20-goal Premier League season would level him with Frank Lampard at sixth place on 177 goals. A top-four finish in the Premier League is also within reach if he enjoys a 30-goal season.

In the Champions League, a prolific season would see Salah break into the top 10 all-time scorers. His next goal will make him the highest-scoring African in the competition’s history, and he is just six goals away from the 50-goal mark, which would put him ahead of legends such as Alfredo Di Stefano, Andriy Shevchenko, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Eusebio, and Filippo Inzaghi.

Salah acknowledged that he was not a natural goalscorer when he first joined Liverpool, with this ability developing over time. Although he did not specify his current goalscoring target, he did mention that the Premier League club record for goals was a significant personal achievement.

“The one I was into it too much was Premier League record for the club,” he said. “That was in my head, that’s why I took the shirt off against United (after scoring his record 129th league goal for Liverpool in their 7-0 victory at Anfield in March 2023). No, that (being a goalscorer) developed with time.

When I was at Roma, in two seasons I scored 30 goals. Now if I score 30 goals in two seasons, they’re going to kill me here! But I think that changed a lot, especially in my first season I won the Golden Boot so the expectation becomes bigger and bigger and bigger.”