Fabio Borini has suggested that Mo Salah is not essential for Liverpool in terms of being able to keep bringing in silverware, as reported by CaughtOffside.
The former Liverpool forward was keen to heap praise on the Egyptian’s teammate, Trent Alexander-Arnold, acknowledging the England selection debate surrounding the fullback.
“It is important [to keep Salah] but not the key to keep winning trophies,” the former Swansea star said.
“The club showed the same strategy with [Philippe] Coutinho, plus to keep a player like Mo, firstly he needs to be happy to stay, then you can do all the talks.
“Trent Alexander-Arnold is a great player who is having a difficult season.
“His qualities should never be in doubt but every manager makes the decisions for the best of the team. Only performances and Southgate can decide the team for the Euros.”
The idea that Salah (valued at €110m, according to Transfermarkt) isn’t essential to winning trophies is positively ludicrous, particularly when one considers our reliance on 28-year-old this term whilst his front three partners, bar Diogo Jota, have been less than inspiring.
Diving into the numbers, the claim begins to take on a satire-esque quality – with 32 goal contributions this season (Sadio Mane comes second with 19), the Egypt international has been near single-handedly carrying our attacking efforts this term.
Liverpool have, of course, moved on from the one-man show days of Luis Suarez, but to say the Egyptian King isn’t vital to winning silverware would be like saying the signings of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker haven’t made an impact on the side.
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