"There was probably another 25 Mo Salah’s out there" - Don Hutchison on Salah's rise

Pundit Don Hutchison has implied that Mohamed Salah was an ordinary player before he joined Liverpool.

Back in the summer of 2017, the club signed the winger from Roma for a transfer fee of €42 million.

Since then, Salah has gone from strength-to-strength. The Egyptian international scored 34 goals and registered 22 assists in 83 appearances for Roma.

However, Salah has found the back of the net 153 times and secured 57 assists in 239 appearances for Liverpool.

To further highlight how much the forward has improved, Hutchison has stated that there were 25 Salah's running around in world football at the beginning of the 2017-18 campaign (his debut season a Liverpool).

“I commentated on him in Serie A and watched him in Italian football,” Hutchison told Premier League TV (28/03/22 at 12:05pm). “His numbers were still good. Still averaging 25 goals a season.

“But this (debut season for Liverpool) is when he really got his confidence and became close to being one of the world’s best.

“It’s funny though, at that time, and probably to this day. There is only probably (Virgil) van Dijk who was a ready-made superstar that was bought. Jurgen Klopp purchased all of them players in and turned them into being superstars.

“There was probably a time when Liverpool signed Mo Salah, there was probably another 25 Mo Salah’s out there. But he recognised the talent, his balance, his game and how he is off-the-field. And turned the player into an absolute superstar.”

Anfield Watch Verdict

Hutchison is correct. Salah was just an ordinary player before he joined Liverpool.

However, the Egyptian international always had the potential to go on and become a very good footballer.

Salah possessed pace, skill and end product. Therefore, we have not been entirely surprised by his rise.

Salah has also been working with a world-class manager in Jurgen Klopp, so he was bound to improve.