Arsenal fans claim Bukayo Saka is world class so what does that make Mo Salah?

Mohamed Salah finished his debut season in the Premier League as a Liverpool player with 42 goal involvements. 

The ex-Roma man broke the record for goals scored in a 38-game campaign when he found the back of the net on 32 occasions. He chipped in with 10 assists to stun, well, everyone having returned to England in the summer of 2017 for £35million.

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That wasn't enough for him to be acknowledged as world class by the masses. At first he was dubbed a one season wonder. After the goals and assists continued into his second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh seasons at Anfield, he was labelled a system player. It was claimed he benefited from Jürgen Klopp's tactics and that elsewhere he wouldn't be able to repeat these feats.

Whenever the conversation turned to whether Salah was one of the greatest Premier League attackers of all time, the goalposts were moved.

First the argument was he wasn't doing it against the top teams. Then, after he racked up an obscene amount of goals against Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea, the narrative was that he was nothing without goals. He, apparently, didn't have the aura of a Thierry Henry, an Eden Hazard or a Cristiano Ronaldo.

Saka's impressive start to the season

All completely subjective, of course. And complete nonsense.

Salah has the longevity. He has a catalogue of goals that any Premier League great would be envious of. He's done it in different systems while at Anfield and now under different Liverpool managers. He's on eight goal involvements in seven appearances this term.

Yet there are still some who will argue that he isn't world class. And the very same people are now trying to make the case for Bukayo Saka to be recognised as world class following his impressive start to the 2024/25 campaign. This all stems from a recent debate on talkSPORT, which has run and run all week.

The Arsenal forward has seven assists and two goals in seven appearances. There have been discussions as to whether he will break the Premier League record of 20 assists in a single campaign. This talk is a little premature.

It is the norm for Arsenal fans to exaggerate though. There's no middle ground with them. They're either the best team in the country or they're a signing or two away from being the best team in the country.

It wasn't that long ago that Aaron Ramsdale was being called baby Alisson. Now he's on loan at Southampton having lost his place in the Arsenal team to David Raya.

Back to Saka, though.

Saka benefits from strong finishing

How do you determine what makes a player world class? How long does your form need to be at a certain level before it is considered the norm?

Because while Saka's output right now is looking world class, he has nine goal involvements in seven appearances in the Premier League, there's more to it than that, isn't there?

For example, he's benefitted from his teammates finishing well. His Expected Assists total in the English top-flight is 3.16. This haul sees him ranked first in the Premier League for this particular metric but he's closely followed by Dwight McNeil and James Maddison, both of whom have an xA total of three.

Trent Alexander-Arnold is ranked fourth on 2.5. But while Saka has seven assists, the other three creators collectively have just five.

Saka assist rate isn't sustainable

The difference between the Arsenal No7 and his rivals for the best playmaker in the league trophy is finishing. The Gunners have finished off the chances carved out by Saka at an outrageous rate. A rate that simply cannot be sustainable. While others have seen the chances they've created spurned by teammates.

If we look over a much larger sample size, say since Arsenal have been challenging for that title, Saka's form output has been good, but world class? I'm not so sure.

The England international has a Non-Penalty Expected Goals per 90 average since the start of the 2022/23 season of 0.3 and an Expected Assists average of 0.37. Though the latter metric is impacted by his 0.56 average this season. During this time, he's averaged 3.2 shots per 90. Simply put, he's a decent volume shooter but he's not getting high value chances despite playing for one of the title contenders.

He is, however, a creator. But he does create a lot from set pieces rather than in open play. That is something else to consider when analysing the Arsenal man.

Salah remains the benchmark

By comparison, Salah, the benchmark for left-footed right-wingers in the Premier League, has a Non-Penalty Expected Goals per 90 average of 0.53 across the same period. He's averaged a similar number of attempts on goal (3.4) and his Expected Assists average 0.31.

Salah has posted these numbers during what has been Liverpool's most inconsistent period over recent years. His role has been tweaked to accommodate others on multiple occasions and the Reds have struggled.

The Liverpool No11, during a period in which people have queried whether he's on the wane and he's had a serious injury, has an Non-Penalty Expected Goals Involvement per 90 average of 0.84. Saka's average is 0.67.

Saka is undoubtedly a talent but he still needs to scale his end product if he can rightly be labelled as world class. At 32, Salah is still the bar for every wide forward in the Premier League.