Carragher: Salah has ‘eclipsed’ Ronaldo and is sixth greatest Liverpool star in history | OneFootball

Jamie Carragher claims only one overseas attacking player ‘eclipses’ Mohamed Salah in Premier League history and believes the Egyptian is the sixth greatest Liverpool player of all time.

Salah has scored 255 goals and claimed 122 assists in nine seasons for Liverpool and will leave as a club legend after winning six major trophies including two Premier League titles and the Champions League.

After signing a lucrative new contract at the end of last term having driven the Reds to the title in Arne Slot’s first season in charge, the Egyptian has suffered a dramatic downturn in form this season and announced this week that this will be his last campaign at the club.

Liverpool attention will now turn to who they can source as a replacement, with Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise the pie in the sky ideal, as Steven Gerrard insists his former club “have to buy a box office replacement”.

And Carragher will be of a similar mind as he ranks Salah above Cristiano Ronaldo among the best overseas forwards to grace the Premier League.

He wrote in his column for The Telegraph: ‘Mohamed Salah’s imminent Liverpool departure marks not just the end of an extraordinary era for the club. It means the Premier League will soon be deprived of another world-class, generational talent.

‘Liverpool’s loss is English football’s loss.

‘Following Kevin De Bruyne’s exit from Manchester City just last season, Salah’s Anfield farewell brings down the curtain on another career which has illuminated our stadiums.

‘Until others step up to fill the huge void, we risk suffering a “superstar famine”.

‘In the pantheon of overseas attacking players to have excelled in England, only Thierry Henry eclipses Salah’s output and consistency.

‘While many will argue the merits of players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Eden Hazard, Gianfranco Zola, Dennis Bergkamp or Eric Cantona, none of them produced the same devastating numbers as consistently, season-after-season, as the Egyptian.

‘Ronaldo’s time at Manchester United, both initially and upon his return, was either side of his absolute, Real Madrid-peak years.

‘Salah edges ahead of him when judging strictly on Premier League performance and impact. In an all-time Premier League XI, Salah is an automatic inclusion in the front three alongside Henry and Ronaldo.’

Carragher went on to place Salah as the sixth greatest Liverpool player of all time.

He added: ‘The true measure of Salah’s greatness was brought home to me recently. Only a few days ago, my old club requested that I name my 10 greatest Liverpool players.

‘The usual suspects formed the core of my top choices: Steven Gerrard, Sir Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, John Barnes and Ian Rush.

‘The ultimate compliment I can pay to Salah is that he was the immediate name to follow them on that list.’