Have Liverpool just given themselves a £40m problem? | OneFootball

Mohamed Salah’s penalty against Burnley on Sunday moved him to FOURTH in the all-time top Premier League goalscorers list.

The Egyptian King has now hit 188 goals - ahead of Sergio Aguero. He has a realistic chance of overhauling both Wayne Rooney (208) and Harry Kane (213) before he finishes his contract in 2027.

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Right now Alan Shearer appears off in the distance on 260. There is no questioning Salah’s status as a bonafide Liverpool legend and one of the greatest ever to do it in the Premier League.

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When he hangs up his boots his exploits will be mythologised and rightly so. He’s had a transformative effect on this Liverpool team since joining in 2017 - the greatest player of their modern era and perhaps the best transfer the club has ever made.

Salah's blockbuster new deal

Salah’s importance to the club was underlined towards the end of last season when he was secured to a new contract until 2027.

The numbers that came out of that renewal were mindboggling; £400k per week for the top scorer until his contract expiry. That's over £40m gross for the duration of his two-year contract.

And the Salah who rattled in 29 goals last season - often carrying the fight for Arne Slot’s team single-handedly for the first two-thirds of the season at least - is worth those stratospheric numbers.

But right now he isn’t playing like a £400k-per-week forward.

The headline numbers tend to mask that a bit. Two goals and an assist across the first four matches of the season - that is an enviable total.

For example if Florian Wirtz had managed that output then the naysayers would be very quiet indeed. But there’s no denying there is something a little amiss with Salah right now.

Is Slot lessening dependency on Salah?

It may be that Arne Slot is attempting to lessen the dependency on the 33-year-old as he grows towards the twilight of his career.

The head coach looks to be utilising a different strategy - one which places a No9 as the spearhead of the attack rather than Salah.

The consequence is that Salah is having much less of an overall influence on the game compared to previous times. It’s evident in the statistics.

Although the season is only four matches old, he is making far fewer penalty box entries than last term. He is finding himself on the periphery - stationed on the right wing - touching the ball much less and his impact in front of goal is also diminishing.

This season he’s scored twice - including one penalty - for a scoring frequency average of one every 180 minutes. Last season that was one every 116 minutes.

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Salah's numbers are diminishing

This season he’s got an expected goals total of just 0.28 per game. Last season that was 0.67 per game.

This season he’s having an average of 1.3 shots per game. Last season that number was 3.4.

His shots on target per game average has declined from 1.6 to 0.8.

He’s touching the ball on average 42.8 times per game this season - whereas last season that total was up at 49.1.

His total of assists, expected assists and key passes have all roughly halved compared to last season.

And don’t forget, the numbers would be even starker if only the first two-thirds of last season are included as this drop-off seems to have begun towards the run-in.

These numbers are taken from Sofascore.

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Give Salah time to find his feet

Does this kind of form suggest that Salah can make it towards 29 goals and 18 assists this season like he did last term? Right now it doesn’t look like it.

It could be a combination of a natural decline - or as mentioned before - a different way of playing is impacting his overall output. That is likely to become more pronounced when Alexander Isak gets up and running at No9.

Should we be worried? Right now no.

Liverpool are winning matches - albeit narrowly - and Salah is more than holding his own for goals and assists. Those numbers look more “human” this term but that isn’t to diminish his achievements.

We’ve got so used to Salah being a superhero that when he plays like any other regular - productive - attacker it appears he’s a player in crisis.

Give it time to work itself out and see where Salah finds himself in the weeks and months ahead.