Mohamed Salah set to leave Liverpool as an all-time great and defining Premier League figure

A farewell framed by greatness

Mohamed Salah is set to leave Liverpool this summer with the sort of legacy that is usually reserved for a small handful of players: those who do not merely succeed at a club, but come to define an era. The evidence is clear in his output, yet the meaning of his time at Anfield extends beyond statistics. For Liverpool supporters, he became an emblem of modern success, a forward whose goals, durability and decisive moments helped shape a period that delivered the sport’s biggest prizes.

Labelled the “Egyptian King” by his admirers on the Kop, Salah’s impact has been both immediate and sustained. He arrived as a high-quality attacker with a strong reputation from Italy, but he leaves as one of the greatest to represent Liverpool and one of the most iconic figures of the Premier League age.

From a bargain fee to a historic return

Liverpool signed Salah from AS Roma on 23 June 2017 for £34m. With the benefit of hindsight, that figure now looks extraordinary when set against what followed. The transfer did not merely add a new forward; it introduced a player who would become a central pillar in a trophy-winning side and a consistent match-winner across multiple managerial phases.

His route to Anfield also carried an element of unfinished business in English football. Like Kevin de Bruyne—another player who later became a Premier League great—Salah had previously been at Chelsea and struggled to make a lasting impression. His record there was two goals in 19 appearances, with only 10 starts. Before his Liverpool arrival, his most notable Anfield memory came not in a red shirt but in Chelsea colours, when he started in a 2-0 win at Liverpool in April 2014 under Jose Mourinho. That match is remembered for Steven Gerrard’s slip and a result that pushed the title towards Manchester City.

There was another twist: when leaving Basel in January 2014, Salah turned down Liverpool to join Chelsea. Years later, he returned to Merseyside not as a prospect seeking a foothold, but as a refined attacker ready to lead a frontline.

Early signs and rapid growth

Salah’s career was described as something of a slow burner in his early Basel period, but the hints of elite potential were present. Basel coach Murat Yakin offered a memorable assessment after Salah scored in a 2013 Europa League quarter-final win against Tottenham, saying: “If Mohamed could score as well, he would not be here any more.”

What followed after his Chelsea spell was a rapid acceleration. A loan at Fiorentina and then an outstanding period at AS Roma helped shape him into what Liverpool received in 2017: a player who looked like the finished article. Even so, it is difficult to believe that Jurgen Klopp—or anyone—could have forecast the scale of what Salah would deliver at Anfield.

A Liverpool debut season that changed everything

Salah’s first Liverpool goal was not a pristine strike destined for highlight reels. It was a scruffy, bundled effort on the goal line in a 3-3 draw at Watford on the opening day of his first season. Yet it was an early sign of a defining trait: a constant presence in scoring positions, an instinct to finish, and a refusal to stop hunting for goals.

From that moment, he became a relentless scorer. His first season set the tone for the years to come, with 44 goals and 14 assists in 52 appearances. It was a campaign of extraordinary production, but it ended with personal heartbreak when he injured his shoulder after a challenge by Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos in the Champions League final. Salah lasted only 31 minutes of the 3-1 defeat in Kiev, departing in tears as Liverpool’s hopes were dealt a severe blow.

Redemption arrived quickly. Just a year later, Salah scored an early penalty in the Champions League final as Liverpool beat Tottenham 2-0 in Madrid. It was a moment that captured both his importance and his ability to respond to adversity on the biggest stage.

Trophies and an era of sustained success

Salah’s Liverpool years have been decorated with major honours. During his time at the club, Liverpool added the Champions League, two Premier League titles, the FA Cup, the EFL Cup, the Uefa Super Cup and the Fifa Club World Cup to their honours board. Those achievements reflect a collective effort, but Salah’s role was consistently central: a forward who delivered in key moments and maintained standards across long seasons.

His record underlines the scale of his contribution. As he prepares to leave, Salah has scored 255 goals in 435 games for Liverpool, placing him third on the club’s all-time list, behind Ian Rush and Roger Hunt. In the Premier League alone for Liverpool, he has made 310 appearances, scoring 189 goals and providing 92 assists.

That combination of goals and creativity is historically significant. His 281 goal contributions (goals plus assists) for one club is the biggest in Premier League history, five more than Wayne Rooney managed for Manchester United. It is a figure that speaks to both longevity and consistency, and also to a broader truth about Salah: while he possessed the ruthless edge common to elite scorers, he was also a consistent contributor to the team’s wider attacking play.

The trident that defined Klopp’s Liverpool

At the height of Klopp’s Liverpool, Salah formed one part of an attacking trio that was regarded as among the most potent in world football. Alongside Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, he helped create a unit that blended pressing, pace, power and skill into a devastating whole.

Salah attacked from the right, Mane patrolled the left, and Firmino provided the connecting tissue—sometimes leading the line as a striker, sometimes dropping deeper to knit attacks together. The balance was central to Liverpool’s identity: aggressive without the ball, direct and inventive with it. While Salah and Mane were not always compatible as personalities, on the pitch their understanding was a major weapon, aided by Firmino’s subtlety and intelligence.

Consistency, durability and the standard of the greats

One of the most striking features of Salah’s Liverpool career has been his consistency and fitness. Across seasons, his goal totals rarely dipped, and when they did, the “drop” still represented elite production. His lowest goals total in a full season prior to the current campaign came in 2019-20, when he scored 23 as Liverpool won the league title for the first time in 30 years.

His win rates reinforce the sense of sustained excellence during his time at Anfield. From his 310 Premier League appearances for Liverpool, the win rate stands at 63.9%. Across all 435 games, it is 62.7%. Those numbers reflect not only Salah’s individual quality but also the broader success of Liverpool during his tenure.

Through transition, still the match-winner

As Liverpool moved on from key figures of the title-winning era—Mane and Firmino, along with influential players such as captain Jordan Henderson and Fabinho—Klopp rebuilt the squad into what he described as “Liverpool 2.0”. Yet even as the team evolved, one constant remained: Salah’s capacity to decide matches.

His relationship with Klopp was not without tension, and there were also fraught moments later with Klopp’s successor, Arne Slot. One notable incident came during a 2-2 draw at West Ham United in April 2024, when Salah was waiting to come on as a substitute and an angry touchline exchange took place as West Ham scored. Even so, Klopp’s all-out attacking approach and Salah’s instincts as a forward proved a natural match, repeatedly bringing the best out of Liverpool’s main marksman.

A title push powered by Salah

After Klopp left, Salah produced a season that ranked alongside his finest. It resembled a personal mission, as he drove Liverpool towards another Premier League title—one that would bring a 20th league crown to Anfield and draw level with Manchester United’s total. In that campaign, Salah was described as being at the peak of his footballing and physical powers, scoring 34 goals in 50 starts in all competitions.

Liverpool won the title with ease, and Salah’s performances helped ensure that the transition from Klopp’s iconic, fiercely animated presence to Slot’s more measured, strategic approach was seamless in the Dutch coach’s first season. It was a reminder that while systems and touchline personalities can change, truly elite forwards can remain decisive regardless of context.

A new contract, then a difficult final chapter

In April 2025, Liverpool supporters celebrated when Salah signed a new two-year contract. At that point, the future appeared stable and positive. The subsequent downturn in his form this season therefore came as a surprise, though the period was also shaped by tragedy within the squad.

Liverpool and their supporters were left heartbroken by the death of team-mate Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car crash in July. Much of the club’s grief remained private, and the full toll on individuals was not publicly known. Salah’s emotions, however, were visible in the opening Premier League game of the season against Bournemouth at Anfield.

After scoring Liverpool’s final goal in a 4-2 win, he used Jota’s trademark goal celebration. He was then moved to tears in front of the Kop as he applauded supporters after the final whistle while they sang Jota’s song. It was an intensely human moment that offered a glimpse of the emotional weight carried by the squad.

Benchings, a public dispute, and a partial reconciliation

Salah’s decline in form led to significant consequences on the pitch. He was dropped to the bench for three successive games in six days, a sequence that culminated in a 3-3 draw against Leeds United on 6 December, which he watched from the sidelines. After that match, he delivered an incendiary interview—one of his rare public interventions, usually known for being carefully calculated.

In that interview, Salah claimed he had been “thrown under the bus” by Liverpool and said his relationship with Slot had broken down. The comments triggered the heaviest criticism of his time at the club, a striking development given the esteem in which he had been held for so long.

Even so, matters were resolved enough for him to return soon after, making an early substitute appearance against Brighton at Anfield the following weekend. Liverpool won 2-0, and Salah acknowledged the supporters by tapping his heart in front of the Kop, appearing to feel the love from the stands. He then departed for the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt.

While the public spat and denunciation of the club briefly threatened to complicate the story of his final months, the sense remained that any damage would be temporary. He was rehabilitated in the eyes of many, even if he was no longer the unstoppable force he had been at his peak.

What the numbers say—and what they cannot

Salah’s Liverpool record is strong enough to stand on its own. Third on the club’s all-time scoring list. A Premier League one-club goal contribution record. Seasons of elite output. Major trophies. High win rates. These are the traditional measures of greatness, and he satisfies all of them.

But his legacy also rests on less measurable elements: the sense of inevitability when chances fell his way; the reliability of his availability; the way his presence shaped how opponents defended Liverpool; and the way he remained central even as teammates and managers changed around him. For a club that has seen many great forwards, Salah’s era will be remembered as one in which Liverpool re-established themselves at the summit of English and European football, with Salah repeatedly at the heart of it.

Anfield’s “Egyptian King” leaves an untarnished legacy

When the dust settles on his departure, the simplest conclusion will likely be the most enduring: Mohamed Salah has been one of the greatest players ever to pull on a Liverpool shirt. Even with late-career turbulence—form dips, managerial tension, and the emotional strain of a tragic loss—his body of work remains exceptional.

For Liverpool, his exit marks the end of a chapter that delivered both silverware and identity. For the Premier League, it closes the story of a player who arrived with questions after an earlier English spell, then built a legacy that now sits comfortably among the competition’s defining figures.

Key milestones from Salah’s Liverpool career

• Joined Liverpool from AS Roma on 23 June 2017 for £34m.
• Scored 255 goals in 435 games for Liverpool, ranking third on the club’s all-time scorers list.
• In the Premier League for Liverpool: 310 appearances, 189 goals, 92 assists.
• Registered 281 Premier League goal contributions for one club, a competition record.
• Won major honours including the Champions League, two Premier League titles, the FA Cup, EFL Cup, Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Club World Cup.
• Part of a celebrated attacking trio with Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.