"He is phenomenal. For sure, at the moment, he is the best player in the world."
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp may well be biased, but he has had a front-row seat to witness the incredible form of forward Mohamed Salah - and the Egypt international could grab yet another record very soon.
Mohamed Salah: Liverpool forward closes in on another Premier League record
Mohamed Salah has scored 36 goals in all competitions for Liverpool in 2021
"He is phenomenal. For sure, at the moment, he is the best player in the world."
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp may well be biased, but he has had a front-row seat to witness the incredible form of forward Mohamed Salah - and the Egypt international could grab yet another record very soon.
If the 29-year-old scores or registers an assist in Thursday's home game against 19th-placed Newcastle - a side he has never failed to score against at Anfield - then Salah will have equalled Jamie Vardy's record of scoring or creating a goal in 15 consecutive Premier League matches.
Goal contributions
Jamie Vardy's run came in 2015 for Leicester, Stan Collymore's for Nottingham Forest and Liverpool in 1995, Andrew Cole's for Newcastle in 1994 and Mesut Ozil's for Arsenal in 2015.
But records are nothing new for the incredible Salah.
In October he became the first Liverpool man to score in nine successive games and the hat-trick against Manchester United in the following match left him as the highest-scoring African player in Premier League history, overtaking Didier Drogba's mark of 104 goals.
These records can be added on to a whole heap of historical achievements in the red of Liverpool.
His 32 goals in 2017-18 remains the highest in a 38-game Premier League season, he is Liverpool's all-time Champions League top goalscorer (33) and became the fastest foreign player to tally 100 goal involvements in the Premier League, to name just a few.
Salah's 2021 statistics for goal involvements is superb. As of 15 December, he had scored eight more Premier League goals (23) than the next man on the list - Tottenham's Harry Kane (15).
Only Liverpool team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold (12) has more assists, but only just, by one. If you combine the goals and assists from Salah, no-one comes close in 2021.
Most Premier League goal involvements in 2021
While Salah is out on his own in 2021 goal contributions, he is still well short of the best calendar-year record in Premier League history.
That is held by Kane after an incredible 2017 in which he scored 39 goals for Tottenham and claimed seven assists for a total of 46 goal involvements in only 36 league games.
Kane is closely followed by Alan Shearer (1995 - Blackburn), Robin van Persie (2011 - Arsenal), Thierry Henry (2003 and 2004 - Arsenal) and Matt Le Tissier (1994 - Southampton), who all recorded 44 goal involvements in a calendar year.
Manchester City's Raheem Sterling became the 32nd player to reach 100 Premier League goals on Saturday and, of those 32, Salah has the fourth best goals-per-game ratio.
Goals per 100 Premier League games
Only players who scored at least 100 Premier League goals have been included. Stats courtesy of Opta and correct at end of 15 December
Alan Shearer is the all-time top goalscorer in Premier League history with 260 goals from 441 appearances, but Salah is already storming up the list and, from 174 matches, currently has 111 goals, the joint 22nd highest total.
It is a far cry from his start in English football as after 13 Premier League games at Chelsea between 2013 and 2015, he had only found the net twice before disappearing to Roma and Serie A.
But since Liverpool paid £34m to bring Salah back to English football in June 2017, he has shone brightly and helped the Reds win the Premier League, Champions League, Uefa Super Cup and Fifa World Club Cup.
It is a high bar, but this season could be his best yet for Jurgen Klopp's side. He already has 14 goals from 16 Premier League games, as well as another seven in six Champions League matches, including a number of magnificent goals.
But he also has nine Premier League assists in 2021-22, only one short of his best from any campaign, as he has responded to critics who have called him selfish in the past.
Salah's Premier League record
Season Team Appearances Goals Assists Minutes / goal
2013-14 Chelsea 10 2 1 250
2014-15 Chelsea 3 0 0 -
2017-18 Liverpool 36 32 10 91
2018-19 Liverpool 38 22 8 148
2019-20 Liverpool 34 19 10 152
2020-21 Liverpool 37 22 5 140
2021-22 Liverpool 16 14 9 103
So, what records could Salah get in the rest of this season?
The main one is he could become Liverpool's all-time leading Premier League goalscorer.
Robbie Fowler (128 league goals in 266 games for the Reds) is the current record holder, followed by Steven Gerrard (120 goals, 504 games), Michael Owen (118 goals, 216 games) and Salah (109 goals, 161 games).
Salah is joint 12th in the overall list of Premier League goals for one club and his next goal will take him clear of Ryan Giggs, although the Egyptian still has a long way to go to get to Sergio Aguero's 184 goals that he managed at Manchester City.
Salah is tied 22nd overall in the number of Premier League goals and it surely will not be long before he forces his way into the top 20.