Michael Owen has referenced Luis Suarez’s remarkable individual season for Liverpool in 2013/14 to suggest that the Uruguayan is superior to Mo Salah when considering the Reds’ greatest modern forward.
The former striker disagreed with his co-host, Rio Ferdinand, who claimed that the Egyptian was the better frontman of the two in question due to his contributions in trophy-winning seasons.
“Just because you win the league, we’ve played with players who have six or seven medals in their pocket – they’re not a patch on Steven Gerrard or Luis Suarez,” the 41-year-old spoke on BT Sport (via the Mirror).
“We’re splitting hairs in terms of how good the players are.
“As a one-off season, obviously he’s been doing it for four years now Mo Salah, we’re talking about one of the greatest players in the world.
“But your question was in a one-off season. That one that Suarez or any of the four that Mo Salah has had…there’s no comparison.”
As things stand, the No.11 has registered eight goals in eight games (across all competitions this term), a scoring rate that certainly puts him in contention to match his remarkable 44-goal haul in his first season for the Merseysiders.
It’s a difficult debate to have, particularly given we’re dissecting individual contributions within two completely different Liverpool sides.
Brendan Rodgers’ 2013/14 nearly-men did still contain club legend Steven Gerrard, not to mention in-form stars Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge, but the overall talent on offer in Jurgen Klopp’s first-XI is, on the whole, objectively superior.
As such, one can understand Owen making a case for Suarez – in light of his brilliant personal contributions – though we are likewise considering a wide man in Salah with stats that are comparable to that of natural centre-forwards.
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Michael Owen is one the worst commentators / summarisers in football…… I don’t give him the time of day with his opinions – he’s nearly as bad as Robbie Savage…… & that takes some doing… lol