Joseph-Antoine Bell has claimed that Salah is unlikely to be handed the Ballon d’Or this year due to his failure to secure silverware.
A number of dubious leaks have emerged supporting the 67-year-old’s prediction with the Egyptian hard-pressed to find supporters backing him for the individual award beyond the borders of Merseyside.
“Salah has had a fantastic season, but he also did that last year,” the former Marseille shotstopper told ESPN.
“There’s no doubt that Salah is clearly among the best players in the world, but we have to be honest about this.
“When people talk about who should win the Ballon d’Or, they always ask, ‘What did he win?’ and we have to apply this to everyone.
“Salah wasn’t champion of England, he wasn’t champion of Africa, whereas others won things, so it makes it very hard to say that Salah deserves the Ballon d’Or more than other people.”
The former Roma frontman has been in scintillating form this season, registering 21 goal contributions in 13 games (across all competitions), prompting some calls for the forward to be recognised with the award in late November.
Whilst we can certainly appreciate that the Ballon d’Or should go to the player who has impressed over a calendar year, we find it difficult to understand how this prerequisite would rule out Salah.
The Egyptian King’s goalscoring form has certainly gone up a notch or two for us this term, however, it was his goals that played a large part in keeping us in contention for a top four spot last season when our general form took a nosedive in light of our damaging injury crisis.
On top of that, if we’re basing the award on individual performance, it makes little sense as to why silverware should be considered an important factor in the judgement process.