Liverpool star Mohamed Salah has been praised by Eric Cantona – Sadio Mane, a player Jürgen Klopp sold, was also lauded.
What’s the story?
Well, it is not often that we see a Manchester United legend such as Cantona praise anybody associated with Liverpool, given the rivalry between the two giants of English football.
However, the Frenchman has now done exactly that with Salah and Mane.
Speaking to The Times, Cantona expressed his admiration for the way in which the Egypt international and the Senegal international joined Liverpool at a time where the Reds were far from Europe’s elite.
The 56-year-old said: “The best don’t want to go to Man Utd, they want to go to Man City or Real Madrid. They have to be more clever, like when Salah and Mane went to Liverpool. They were not the greatest in the world, but they saw they could play together.”
It was a bold move from Liverpool, Salah and Mane to join forces.
As aforesaid, Liverpool were not dining at Europe’s top table when Mane and Salah arrived in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
However, the African duo used a bit of foresight to see where the project could go under Klopp with the pair of them causing havoc on the flanks next to Roberto Firmino, and their gamble paid off tremendously.
Salah – who Liverpool signed from Roma for £34m – has scored 173 goals in 280 appearances for Liverpool, helping the Reds win the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
Mane scored 120 goals in 269 appearances as he won the same titles at Anfield.
Liverpool will struggle to find more like Salah & Mane
In our view, Liverpool will struggle to find two bargains like Salah and Mane ever again, purely because of how well they did on Merseyside.
The Reds have become victims of their own success.
Clubs will now think twice before selling their lesser known stars to Liverpool for reasonable sums, as they will know Klopp expects them to quickly develop into world beaters.
Nevertheless, that is the harsh nature of the market, and it is up to Liverpool to adapt.
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