Martin Keown Estimates Huge Price Tag for Mohamed Salah After Dazzling Watford Display

Many people were sceptical as to the wisdom of Liverpool spending £36.9m on former Chelsea reject Mohamed Salah last summer, but that piece of business is now looking like one of the signings of the century.

Salah scored four goals against Watford on Saturday for his first Reds hat-trick to move onto 36 goals for the season. In doing so, he set the record for the highest goals tally in a debut season at Liverpool in the club's history, surpassing Fernando Torres' 33-goal haul from 2007-08.

There has been some speculation that Real Madrid could target Salah this summer, sparking much debate about how much the Egyptian would be worth now. Philippe Coutinho left Liverpool to join Barcelona for £105m in January, but most people agree that Salah would be worth more even than that.

Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown is one such man. Discussing the possibility of Salah leaving Anfield in the summer on Match of the Day, he said: “Remarkable. What’s his value now? £145m? You couldn’t get him away.

“Champions League game coming up against Manchester City. Who would bet against him scoring the winning goal?”

A £145m fee would make Salah the second-most expensive player in football history, with Neymar's £198m transfer to Paris Saint-Germain last summer the only deal worth more.

With 28 of his goals coming in the league, Salah is the highest-scoring player in any of Europe's top five leagues, four clear of a chasing pack that includes Tottenham's Harry Kane and Barcelona's Lionel Messi.

Liverpool won Saturday's game 5-0 at Anfield, with Salah also providing the assist for Roberto Firmino's goal. It means that Salah, Firmino and Sadio Mane have now scored 50 league goals between them this season - more than any Premier League club outside the top six.