Reds Legend Steven Gerrard Picks Liverpool's 'Best Player by a Mile' This Season

Former Liverpool star Steven Gerrard has hailed the Reds’ fearsome frontline, reserving special praise for Mo Salah, deeming him to be the club’s “best player by a mile” this season. 

The Egyptian starred in Liverpool’s 4-1 drubbing over West Ham on Saturday night, first of all opening the scoring thanks to a blistering counter-attack by himself and Sadio Mane, before sealing the three points with an inch-perfect half-volley.

Mike Hewitt/GettyImages

Salah is now on 12 goals in all competitions for the season and Gerrard - who was covering the match for BT Sport - had nothing but praise when speaking about the 25-year-old.

Reported by the Liverpool Echo, Gerrard said: “When he first came I, along with a lot of Liverpool fans, wasn’t totally sure how it was going to work out. But you’ve got to give the manager and the recruitment staff a huge amount of credit for spending that amount of money on a player who it hasn’t worked out for in the Premier League before. He’s come in and been absolutely top drawer this season. He’s been Liverpool’s best player by a mile.”

Gerrard was also keen to highlight the performances of Mane and Firmino. The match against West Ham was Mane’s first appearance for four weeks following a hamstring injury, but the Senegalese international managed to bag himself two assists.

BEN STANSALL/GettyImages

“He’s awesome, he’s great to watch. I’m not saying it from a biased point of view. He’s the type of player you’d pay big money to go and watch every single week. He’s great on the eye. He’s so quick. He makes things happen,” Gerrard said about Mane. “And for someone so quick and the speed that he does it at, to have the touch and the finesse that he shows for the first goal and also the second assist, it’s world class.”

Shaun Botterill/GettyImages

Gerrard also had rave reviews for Liverpool’s makeshift striker Roberto Firmino. The Brazilian was apparently angry at himself for not getting on the scoresheet, but Gerrard hailed his all-round performance, which he contrasted with the performance of the Hammers’ striker, Javier Hernandez.

“Firmino sets the press for him (Klopp), he works his socks off. Compare him to Javier Hernandez, it’s two completely different players,” said Gerrard. “One doesn’t care, one doesn’t run, one’s lazy. The other one runs his socks off, starts all the press off, has a fantastic first touch, makes things happen, strong, hard to play against, everything you want in a centre forward.”