Jurgen Klopp has no doubts about Mohamed Salah’s quality and believes the striker could play a key role in Liverpool achieving ‘something special’ this season.
Liverpool will take on Wolves on Saturday in 10th place in the Premier League, 10 points behind Manchester United in fourth place in the Champions League berth.
The Reds, who have also not played in both domestic cups and will face Real Madrid in the Champions League, have not given Salah their brilliant best this season.
Although Salah is one of Liverpool’s top scorers in the league this season, he has only scored seven times in 19 appearances. In his first five Anfield campaigns, he scored 118 goals in the top flight.
It came after the close of the season when Salah signed a lucrative new deal with Liverpool as his teammate Sadio Mane was allowed to leave.
But Klopp came to his star man’s defense ahead of the Wolves game, telling reporters: “This attitude and stuff like that is not Moe’s problem.
“Mo is a world-class athlete, so he comes in first and leaves last, he trains hard. Now he doesn’t score, but there are people who think: “Why did they give Klopp a contract?” It’s in our world.
“Everything is fine. If we do not make moments, if there is criticism, this is not a problem.
“You can question character, knowledge, ability, everything. You have the right to do everything, but you can’t score as many goals as Mo scored if you’re not an outstanding world-class player.”
Work before the trip to Wolves pic.twitter.com/6xKaJoWc37
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 2, 2023
He added: “There are times when Mo certainly would have scored last year. Do you think it has something to do with a new contract or something?
“It’s just not right. Everything is as it is, and the only way to stop all these questions and discussions is to speak at the highest, highest level, and this is what we must do and what we will work on.
“We are really into it and we remain honest, positive, we want to play games and we believe in our chances to achieve something special even this year.
“It’s not good to not be the leader of the pack, but we’re in a position where we can make a big difference at the table and we have to start tomorrow and continue from there.”