Liverpool have an even better Luis Suarez in Mohamed Salah as Michael Edwards’ task clear

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On social media debates are always raging, at any time of any day, but especially when it comes to sports and in particular Premier League football. One of the latest and most prominent debates was among Liverpool supporters this week and concerned who has been a better player for them, Luis Suarez or Mohamed Salah.

Suarez was a superb player on Merseyside just as he has been in Spain for Barcelona and now Atletico Madrid. On talent, rather than achievements, he is a contender to be Liverpool’s greatest ever player. That’s how much of a phenomenon he was.

The Uruguayan only won a League Cup at Anfield but produced 82 goals and 47 assists and countless moments of individual magic in just 133 games across all competitions.

Yet for what they have both did or have done for the Reds, there is no comparison. Salah is a Premier League and Champions League winner and boasts an even more obscene goalscoring record, given he plays out wide. In talent too, perhaps it is time he is compared to Suarez.

Despite not being a striker, Salah has scored more goals in a 38-game English top-flight season than any other player (32), including Suarez who held the record with Cristiano Ronaldo before the Egyptian.

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After the 3-0 win over Norwich last weekend, Salah stands on 126 goals and 49 assists in 204 matches for Liverpool in the Premier League, Champions League and domestic cup competitions combined. Just as Suarez did, the African revels in the spotlight.

In the Premier League alone, Salah averages a goal every 127.4 minutes, beating Suarez who averaged a goal every 138.8 minutes despite that sensational 2013-14 campaign. Even Alan Shearer, the league’s greatest ever scorer with 260 strikes, only managed a goal every 146.9 minutes.

Salah is two goals away from 100 Premier League goals, with two of his 98 having been netted at Chelsea, and will be confident of reaching the landmark in the next two matches, which come against Burnley this Saturday and then his former club the Blues seven days later, both at Anfield.

Whenever he does it will be yet another personal achievement that will send yet a message to the Liverpool hierarchy reminding them of his worth, just as his advisor and lawyer (not agent) did during the Norwich win in which Salah got a goal and two assists. “I hope they’re watching,” Ramy Abbas Issa wrote on Twitter.

That tweet, clearly, was about the contract negotiations ongoing between Liverpool and Salah’s representatives. The Athletic say talks are underway with Liverpool ready to make Salah the club’s highest-paid player of all time.

He is currently under contract until 2023 but Liverpool want him tied down until 2025 by which time he will be 33. The Egyptian international will expect a pay raise on his £200,000 a week wages and will definitely get one – the question is of how much.

It is now up to the Reds to strike a balance as they seek to suitably reward a genuinely world-class player, and one who is absolutely irreplaceable to them in terms of his output, without upsetting the rest of the dressing room.

Clearly Salah should be the highest-paid player in the team given what he produces week-in, week-out. He was the best performer last term when just about everything else went wrong and helped drag them to third in the league.

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But The Athletic add that the club’s hierarchy will not disrupt the wage structure that has served them so well under American owners Fenway Sports Group, which hints there is a ceiling to the wages they will offer Salah. They now have to hope he is happy with that ceiling.

The Boston-based group must ensure Salah feels properly compensated for his contributions while not angering other players who have similarly played huge roles in the club’s rise under Jurgen Klopp.

Salah has publicly fluttered his eyelashes at a move to Barcelona and Real Madrid previously and though they cannot sign him now, if he is entering the final 12 months of his deal this time next year, the picture will be different and the duo might fancy their chances of landing a cheaper deal.

That makes sporting director Michael Edwards’ task abundantly clear: get a new contract signed as soon as possible. He’s already gotten Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Alisson and Virgil van Dijk to sign fresh deals this summer but Salah extending would be the biggest statement of the lot.

The numbers speak for themselves and while Suarez may have been the better player overall across his career, Salah has undoubtedly been a better player for Liverpool.

He should continue to star for several years although he’s soon to enter his 30s, and the fact he keeps himself in such incredible physical condition hints he has several years left at his peak.

Edwards must ensure that unlike Suarez, who went on to give his final peak years to Barcelona, Salah is standing out to the world in a red shirt rather than white or blue and deep red. If he stays for another four years and maintains his current productivity in that time, the Salah vs Suarez debate will very soon no longer be a debate.

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