Liverpool legend John Barnes has taken a light-hearted swipe at Mohamed Salah, naming the reason why he wouldn’t want to be his teammate.
Signed from Watford for approximately £900,000 by Kenny Dalglish in 1987, Barnes made an instant impact at the club by providing an assist in just nine minutes on his debut in a 2-1 victory over Arsenal. That win only set the tone for a sensational season, which saw Liverpool storm to the title, losing just two games, and Barnes contributing 15 goals.
The Jamaican-born winger went on to represent England 79 times, scoring 10 goals, and flourished in a 10-year spell at Anfield — winning two league titles, two FA Cups and one League Cup in 1995.
Fast forward to today and Salah is rewriting Liverpool’s record books with his own breathtaking statistics. A prolific finisher, the Egyptian has topped the Premier League scoring charts on four occasions, a joint record with Thierry Henry, firmly establishing himself amongst the club and league’s all-time greats.
But when asked which current Liverpool player he would want to play with, Barnes named captain Virgil van Dijk before taking a tongue-in-cheek swipe at Mo Salah. Speaking to LiveScore, he joked:
“I mean, why would I want to play with Mo? He’d score all the goals, I wouldn’t get a kick. So what’s the point of playing with Mo?”
The playful jab underlines the cheeky banter that he is known for, but is without doubt a nod to the respect he has for Salah and his goalscoring prowess. The 33-year-old sits third in Liverpool’s all-time scorers list on 245 goals in 401 appearances, behind only Roger Hunt (285 goals) and Ian Rush (346 goals), and after signing a two-year contract extension in April will only add to that tally.
However, the recent tragic passing of teammate Diogo Jota has cast a shadow over The Reds’ and Salah’s upcoming season, with Salah admitting that he was “frightened” to return to the club after the summer break.
