other than me. It’s always opinion, though.
I respect all other players.”
He’s full of respect, too, for the legends
who have gone before him at Liverpool,
even if he’s been putting their records under
threat. In September, Salah became the
fastest ever to reach 100 top-flight goals
for the club, achieving the feat in only 151
appearances, beating a mark previously set
by the late Roger Hunt. “The records mean
something special to me,” admits Salah.
“Since I came here, I’ve always been trying
to win games for the team, win trophies,
and of course, score goals. Every record you
break, I feel good. I put a lot of work into it
for that. It’s something I’m proud of.”
This season the Egyptian has also moved
into Liverpool’s top 10 scorers of all time.
“That feels great, and hopefully before I go,
I will be the first one,” he says with a smile.
It’s quite a target, given he’s on 153 as we
talk today, and Ian Rush’s record stands at
an incredible 346. That’s a lot of goals...
“Yeah, it is!” he laughs. “I don’t know how
many games they used to play at that time,
but how many goals he used to score... more
than 300, it’s quite tough to get. But let’s see.”
Salah turns 30 in June, but the days of that
milestone being the start of a footballer’s
decline are long gone. The previous four
Ballon d’Or winners have been Cristiano
Ronaldo at 32, Luka Modric at 33, then Messi
at 32 and 34. Lewandowski is still going as
strong as ever at 33; a 40-year-old Zlatan
Ibrahimovic has still been netting in Serie A.
“I didn’t think about the fact I’m going to
turn 30,” smiles Salah. “I ask some players
and they say it’s a different feeling when you
turn 30, but I don’t know, I’m feeling fine.
I’m enjoying life, I’m enjoying football – it
doesn’t matter how old you are now.
“Now you can see that with players – all of
them extend their careers. You can see the
top, top players always after 32, 33, you can
see a lot of them – Lewandowski, Benzema,
Messi, Ronaldo, Zlatan, a lot of players; also
[Edin] Dzeko in Italy, [Olivier] Giroud.
“All of them perform really well after 30,
so I’m not concerned about that.”PARROT FAN CLUB
Salah has been in negotiations with Liverpool
for some time now over an extension to his
existing contract, scheduled to expire at the
end of next season. PSG, Real Madrid and
Barcelona have all been linked, in case an
agreement to stay at Anfield isn’t reached.
As we talk in early April, there’s still no news
on a resolution.“THE FAnS KnOW
WHAT I WAnT – THE
COnTRACT ISn’T
ALL ABOUT MOnEY”
MO
SALAH
Mo is wearing the
Salah Squadra
training range,
created by Adidas