Emile Heskey has urged Jurgen Klopp to ‘keep playing’ one of his most frequent starters at Liverpool, even amid the Reds’ hectic fixture list.
The manager has already hinted that he’ll make a few changes in personnel for Thursday night’s Europa League clash against Toulouse, although some of the Premier League regulars might still be included in the starting XI.
One of those will probably be Mo Salah, who’s started all but two matches so far this season and came on (and scored) in one of those. He also took his tally of career league goals to 201 with his brace against Everton last weekend (Transfermarkt).
Speaking to The Sport Review, Heskey voiced his astonishment at the standards that the 31-year-old is maintaining and admitted that he’d like to see the Egyptian featuring for ‘as many minutes as possible’.
The former Liverpool striker said of our current number 11: “He’s just as important as ever. When you’re looking at focal points and good passages of play, they all tend to go through Mo Salah.
“I don’t think there’s a better outlet than Mo Salah, especially when you’re under the cosh and all you want is to create something on a quick break. [It] is fascinating at the age that he is – I think it was Arsene Wenger’s thing that you kind of limit their minutes at a certain age – [but] you kind of want [Salah] to keep playing as many minutes as possible.
“He’s done fantastic, and to hit the targets that he has with 200 league goals, you’re talking about a winger doing phenomenal feats.”
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It’s not just Salah’s incredible goal return which makes him such a treasured player for Liverpool – it’s also his durability. The Reds have played 237 Premier League matches since the Egyptian signed for us in 2017, and he’s missed only 10 of them, starting in all but 23 (WhoScored).
It’s a testament to his reliability, as well as his sheer cold-bloodedness in front of goal – that an LFC line-up without his name in it is very rare.
Already this season, the 31-year-old has racked up the second-most minutes of any outfield player in Klopp’s squad with 838, beaten only by Dominik Szoboszlai (875) and first-choice goalkeeper Alisson Becker (900), via Transfermarkt.
Even in Europa League or domestic cup games where Salah would be quite entitled to a breather, he’s almost always selected either to start or have in reserve as a substitute.
History suggests that the Liverpool manager will continue to grant Heskey his wish of seeing the Egyptian icon playing the vast majority of minutes available to him at Anfield, and why not when the man in the number 11 shirt is maintaining an extraordinary consistency in front of goal!
#Ep94 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️