Success through stats: Salah’s consistency outlined as new deal is signed
Mohamed Salah is a very good football player. By almost any metric he has been the best player in the Premier League this season and it isn’t even a comparison.
In fact in the history of the league, only four seasons come close to Salah’s current campaign. Andy Cole 1993/94, Alan Shearer 94/95, Thierry Henry 2002/03 and Erling Haaland 22/23.
His 44 goals and assists in 31 games are already record equalling for a 38-game season and, at his current rate, he would get 54 goal contributions which would shatter Cole and Shearer’s record of 47, both in 42-game seasons, however.
In those 31 games so far, he’s only gone six without a goal or an assist, and never for more than two games in a row. His consistency has been unmatched and in his time in the league, no one has scored more than him, 50 ahead of second place Harry Kane, and only Kevin De Bruyne has registered more assists than him.
If you combine goals and assists, he is in a league of his own, almost 100 goal contributions ahead of Heung Min Son in second, showing just how truly consistent and world class he has been to be that far ahead of the South Korean, himself an outstanding player.
His goal contributions have been evenly spread over the season, never going more than two games without getting one. He has won two Player of the Month awards this season alone, adding to his previous five to put him neck and neck with Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero on seven apiece overall.
What’s remarkable is that, despite scoring nine penalties so far in the league, he’s actually not yet scored a hat trick. Shearer scored 10 penalties in his 94/95 campaign, so it’s not unusual, however Cole managed his tally without scoring a single one, Henry only three and even Haaland only scored seven.
It is true his form has dipped if you look at all competitions, not registering a contribution since March 8th, over a month ago. However, it has only been two league games and an international, break so purely from a Premier League standpoint, the drop off has been negligible so far.
Although Liverpool have decided to take their time with this deal, they’ve undoubtedly made the right decision. Various sources claim that it’s a two-year deal in the range of £350,000 – £400,000 a week.
The only problem with players as good as him is that there must be a succession plan in place after their inevitable decline in the latter years of their career. This contract helps Liverpool by giving them more time to replace Salah with someone equally as impactful or at least give them the best chance of doing so.
In what might be the last ‘big’ contract of his playing career, Salah’s performances ensured a smooth transition for Arne Slot’s first season as they are currently at the top of the table, eleven points ahead of second placed Arsenal.
His contract extension is amazing news for Liverpool, alongside the impending renewal of captain Virgil Van Dijk, and the core of Klopp, and now Slot’s Liverpool team, looks set to stay, even if Trent Alexander-Arnold is off to Real Madrid.
Even if the next couple of years end up being not what both parties had hoped for, it’s still safe to say that he has cemented himself as one of, if not the, greatest ever winger to have graced the Premier League.
