Jurgen Klopp Takes Needless Swipe at Liverpool Star With Mohamed Salah Praise

The Egyptian King will leave Liverpool as one of the club’s greatest ever players.

Liverpool enjoyed huge success with Mohamed Salah, Jürgen Klopp together. | Stuart Franklin/UEFA/Getty Images

In labeling Mohamed Salah one of Liverpool’s “all-time greats,” former manager Jürgen Klopp somewhat needlessly dismissed Hugo Ekitiké’s ability to reach similar levels.

Salah’s summer departure was announced on Tuesday, less than a year after signing a new two-season contract to make him Liverpool’s highest-paid player ever—the Egyptian King spent much of 2024–25’s title run applying public pressure to the club to get that deal.

There is no doubting Salah’s legendary status at Liverpool. His 255 goals for the Reds, which could be added to in the final two months, is third on the club’s all-time list. His first 100 Liverpool goals came in just 151 games—a club record, while he leads the way with goals scored in Europe (53).

Salah is also a four-time Premier League Golden Boot winner, three-time FWA Footballer of the Year, three-time PFA Players’ Player of the Year, a two-time Premier League champion and a Champions League winner.

Speaking to The Anfield Wrap, Klopp—Liverpool manager for seven of Salah’s nine seasons with the Reds—admitted the 33-year-old isn’t immune from the demands on every player.

“In the moment when you work with him, it is the same as every other player: ‘You can’t lose the ball here, you have to defend here,’ all these kind of things. But with the bigger view, it is just ridiculous.”

Klopp called Salah’s numbers “unmatched” and questioned whether anyone over the next decade might match or surpass him. While it is unlikely to be the case given Salah’s generational individual achievements, Klopp namechecked current Liverpool striker Ekitiké in the comparison.

“[Salah has] unmatched numbers—will we be talking in 10 years and someone else has them? Ekitiké or whoever. I think it will be really difficult [to surpass Salah]. I think he is one of the all-time greats.”

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Ekitiké Matching Salah Numbers Not Impossible

Hugo Ekitiké’s first year has been respectable, not outstanding. | Liverpool FC/Getty Images

Ekitiké is only at the start of his Liverpool journey. The Frenchman had not long turned 23 when he arrived from Eintracht Frankfurt last summer and has been Liverpool’s best new signing this season, despite having to cope with effectively being replaced by Alexander Isak within a matter of weeks.

Ekitiké’s 17 goals across all competitions, while falling well short of the 44 Salah managed in his debut year in 2017–18, has been a respectable total.

He has the potential to be at Liverpool in the long term, for a decade or more, in the right circumstances. To match Salah, Ekitiké would have to average around 26 goals per season across all competitions for the next nine years, a tall order—but certainly not impossible by any stretch.

To nonchalantly write off his chance already seems unfair.

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