Ian Rush: Mohamed Salah is the best player in the world and is only going to get better

Liverpool legend Ian Rush has told us that Mohamed Salah is the best player in the world at the moment and that the Reds forward is only going to get better.

Rush was speaking as Salah picked up his second Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award on Thursday night and said that the Egypt international’s form has been unrivalled this season.

“He’s absolutely incredible to watch,” Rush told William Hill. “The last two or three years, he’s just got better and better. It’s no surprise to see him win the FWA award, he deserves it. He has this thing where he wants to improve all the time, he keeps himself incredibly fit and the way he conducts himself off the pitch is amazing as well.

“In the last 10-15 years people have been talking about (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi and rightly so. But he wants to be the best in the world and in my opinion this year Mo is the best player in the world. He’s always improving, he’s 29 now so he wants to improve. He keeps himself fit which is something in his favour.

“He’s also not just a goalscorer now – when he first arrived people thought, ‘he can score goals’. I think he’s scored 32 goals this season, but I think he’s the top assist-maker with 15 goals too. When you can add that, that’s how he’s improving. But it’s not just his overall play, he’s improving when he hasn’t got the ball. When he’s got the ball we all know what he can do, but when he hasn’t got the ball he’s improved a tremendous amount.”

Rush, who scored 346 goals in 660 games for Liverpool, believes Salah would have slotted straight into his legendary Reds team of the 1980s.

“Great players can play in great teams, no matter what the era, that’s what I always say,” Rush said. “It doesn’t matter who you are, it’s the football brain you have. And he would have fit into our Liverpool team straight away. All legends, no matter what era, it’s about their football brain and they would adapt to the present day. And Mo would adapt to the way we played and that’s what makes him so special.”

With the quadruple still a possibility for Liverpool, Rush is excited about the end of the season, though he remains wary of Real Madrid ahead of the Champions League final.

Rush added: “It’s great to get to any final but to get to the Champions League final… Most people probably didn’t expect Real Madrid, most people probably expected Manchester City. But it’s Real Madrid, they beat us a few years ago, so I think it’s a bit of payback time.

“It’s going to be a very tight game. When you look at Real Madrid, they’ve been down in so many games – Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City. They’re a team that never gives up so nothing is going to surprise me in this game. I think there will be goals in it. But if we go 2-0, 3-0 up, don’t take things for granted as we’ve seen what Real Madrid can do – they are the comeback kings.”

Rush added on Liverpool’s season: “It’s absolutely fantastic. When you look at the season Liverpool have had, not just in all competitions, but the way they play, the way they play is a joy to watch. When I go to Liverpool I keep on thinking, ‘it can’t be the same’, but it is. They keep on winning. Two finals to come, they’ve still got a chance to win the league. If you’re a Liverpool fan you’ve got to be really excited.”

Rush also said he was delighted to see Jurgen Klopp sign a new contract with Liverpool and that the Reds’ current coaching team reminds him of the set-up from his time at Anfield.

“Klopp’s just fantastic,” Rush said. “I think every Liverpool fan is just happy he’s extended his contract. Like he says, he doesn’t talk about himself, he talks about his coaching staff as well. It reminds me of the modern-day ‘Boot Room’. In the 1980s we had Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Ronnie Moran, Roy Evans – so it’s more of an updated version of the ‘Boot Room’. He’s the first to give them congratulations when they do well. They work well as a team.”

Former Leicester, Celtic, Aston Villa and Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill also told us he was thrilled to see Salah pick up his second FWA award.

“He’s a fantastic footballer, he’s shown that for the last couple of seasons,” he said. “Messi and Ronaldo are two of the world’s greatest ever, and Salah has at certain moments in each of the last couple of seasons put himself into that sort of bracket. To win the award once is fantastic, absolutely fantastic, to do it again is just magnificent. And that shows you how brilliant he has been for the last few seasons.”

O’Neill added on Liverpool’s season: “They have been very, very strong. Klopp has done magnificently. He was given time as well, not only to get his feet under the table, but to actually put his stamp on the football club – and that he has done. It’s just an enormous achievement. Liverpool going for four competitions, it’s relatively unheard of. It would be a magnificent achievement if they could win them all and I wouldn’t put it past them.

“But Real Madrid (in the Champions League final) is obviously going to be very, very tough. Madrid will take a lot out of the Manchester City win, they’ve already won their league so they can prepare exactly for this final, whereas Liverpool’s minds might be all over the place at the moment. But I wouldn’t put anything past Liverpool winning.”

Check out all the latest betting offers at William Hill