Hutchison says there were ’25’ others like £34m Liverpool ace before Klopp transformed him

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Don Hutchison has claimed there were ‘another 25’ players like Mohamed Salah before he joined Liverpool and turned into a ‘superstar’ under Jurgen Klopp, as he told Premier League Productions (28/03/22 at 12:05 pm).

The former midfielder shared that the season Salah netted a record-breaking 32 Premier League goals, that’s when he started to put his name up in lights alongside some of the world’s best.

There’s no doubting today that Salah, who joined Liverpool for £34 million in 2017 from Roma (BBC Sport), is now one of the most feared goalscorers in the world.

This season, the 29-year-old is standing alone in the Premier League because he has 20 league goals to his name – Heung-Min Son and Diogo Jota are the next best with 13 each.

Prior to Salah returning to the Premier League stage, Hutchison shared he was hitting strong numbers in Serie A, before turning into one of the best under Klopp.

“I commentated on him in Serie A and watched him in Italian football,” said Hutchison. “His numbers were still good. Still averaging 25 goals a season.

“But this (his 32 goal league season) is when he really got his confidence and became close to being one of the world’s best.

“It’s funny though, at that time, and probably to this day. There is only probably Van Dijk who was a ready-made superstar that was bought. Jurgen Klopp purchased all of them players in and turned them into being superstars.

“There was probably a time when Liverpool signed Mo Salah. There was probably another 25 Mo Salah’s out there. But he recognised the talent, his balance, his game and how he is off-the-field. And turned the player into an absolute superstar.”

It has been one of Klopp’s biggest strengths during his time on Merseyside and that’s taking the game of players to levels not many expect.

When Sadio Mane first joined from Southampton, he was an explosive wide player, with inconsistencies in his game – that changed under Klopp’s watch.

Andy Robertson was a low-key transfer from Hull City that didn’t have a glamorous pathway to Anfield, but he is now one of the world’s best left-backs.

Then there is someone like Diogo Jota, who since his transfer from Wolves, has found his goalscoring touch and is one of the most underrated players in the Premier League.