Mohamed Salah has reached the 20 goal mark in the Premier League for the fourth season. The feat inches him ever closer to the top of the list of the best goal scorers of all time in English football, alongside the likes of Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer.
From mesmeric solo runs to long range beauties, Salah has a highlight reel that only few can dream of, and has now scored 117 times through only 184 appearances in the Premier League to go along with two Golden Boots. Only Harry Kane, Shearer and Henry have won more. But with Salah a great distance ahead of the rest in England right now, he is expected to bag his third and also win the Premier League Player of the Season award in what would also be a joint-second record alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.
As time goes on, Salah is knocking down record after record and leaving the likes of Ronaldo and Sergio Aguero behind him. Currently, the Liverpool star also boasts 10 assists to go alongside his 20 league goals, and should he manage to rack up even more down the stretch. Salah may even get within striking distance of the legendary record set by Henry as the only man to have 20+ assists and goals in a single season.
What may also push the former Roma man ahead of his competitors here is the timeframe in which he’s managed to do this. While he isn’t the fastest to 100 goals in Premier League history, Salah is the fastest player to score 100 top-flight goals in Liverpool’s history, as he did so within just 151 games.
On top of this, Salah would break another famous record set by Luis Suarez, Shearer and Henry of 31 goals scored in a 38-game season in just his first campaign at Liverpool, and has matched this by scoring at least 19 league goals a season for the following four years.
Eden Hazard, Ronaldo, and many more will rival Salah as the best winger in Premier League history. But, in terms of pure goalscoring and attacking brilliance, he is out on his own.
As far as scoring goals go, nobody has ever done it better as a winger in Premier League history. Ronaldo set a new tone for goalscorers out wide back in 2008 when he netted 31 in 34 league games. Fast forward nine seasons and Salah would break the record for the most goals in a 38-game campaign with 32.
Add another 85 goals, and the Egyptian is now the highest-scoring African player in Premier League history and has now worked his way onto the best XI of all time in the eyes of many Premier League fans.
In fact, with 117 goals now scored in the English top flight, he trails former Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, by only three goals in the all-time list, and former Anfield hero, Robbie Fowler, by 46. At the same time, no other winger is ahead of Salah on the all-time goalscoring chart of the Premier League, with Ryan Giggs just behind him on 109 and his Liverpool colleague, Sadio Mane, at 107.
Salah now has 20 goals in the league this season, and it wouldn’t be the worst call in the world to predict him breaking the 30-goal barrier once again. He has 10 games left to break his own record of 32 in a season, and only needs 12 to get there. Should he do so, the winger would move into the top 15 of the all-time list and by that point, only legendary names like Robin van Persie and Henry separate him from the top 10.
Salah now finds himself in the same category as the great Ruud van Nistelrooy, as he managed to score 20+ goals in four of his five seasons at Manchester United. Salah is also just adrift of north London legends, Kane and Henry, who have hit the 20-goal mark in five seasons.
Both Kane and Henry played three more seasons (8) than Salah’s current run of five in total. Aguero leads the way with six seasons scoring at least 20 Premier League goals, and similarly, he played in 10 Premier League campaigns to reach that mark.
No winger has ever done it better, and at 29, Salah still has years left to add to his legacy.
-Grant McQuillan
Twitter: @Grant_McQuillan
Photo: Mehdi Bolourian. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.