Mo Salah debate gets out of hand as ex-Red questions him being ‘world-class'

The debate around Mo Salah has gotten completely out of hand as a former Liverpool player weighs in on his ‘world-class’ status. Paul Ince doubts the Egyptian is of that standard.

Is Mo Salah actually a world-class player? The Liverpool forward struggled to score against Manchester United on Sunday, spurning some good chances and relying on a penalty for his goal.

And in a game where the Reds desperately needed to take their chances, it highlighted Salah as arguably an underperforming player. That’s been the debate over the last few days, anyway, and it made its way to TalkSPORT on Tuesday as it always does.

Andy Goldstein asked former Liverpool player Paul Ince whether the Egyptian is actually a ‘world-class’ player. Ince tried to dodge the question by asking ‘what defines world-class’ but was egged on to share his opinion.

“Is he a world-class goalscorer? Yes, I think his record speaks for itself,” Ince began. "Is he a world-class player technically? I wouldn’t say so.

"I think sometimes when you see him cutting inside on his left foot, putting balls into the box, they’re not great.

“But as far as a world-class player scoring goals and making things happen, then yes."

Is Mo Salah world-class?

It’s worth mentioning here that ‘Mo Salah isn’t actually any good’ is firmly a part of Goldstein’s act on TalkSPORT and he pushes this little claim about twice a season. But maybe it’s worth a real deep dive.

Now, Salah is the 10th top scorer in Premier League history and the fourth top-scorer in Liverpool’s history despite only playing there for seven years. But obviously, that only makes you a world-class goalscorer, which doesn’t mean you’re actually a good player.

He’s also 16th for assists in Premier League history, but if you play for long enough you’ll get on that list, won’t you?

Honestly, it’s a shame Salah isn’t a world-class player because we can only imagine what he’d accomplish if he were a little bit better at football.

This season he’s third for goals and fourth for assists in the Premier League despite playing at AFCON and then picking up a hamstring injury. And Salah has created more big chances than any Premier League player. And he became the first Liverpool player ever to score 20 goals in seven separate seasons.

We’ll turn the sarcasm off now - yes, he’s world-class. He can’t do much more to prove that.

Now, there’s certainly an argument for Salah being below his best right now and that he can do more. But he still created three chances against Manchester United, on top of his penalty goal, and went into the game averaging a goal or assist every 40 minutes in 2024.

Slightly out of form? Maybe. World-class? Definitely.