A prevalent school of thought is that Liverpool’s success between June 2019 and July 2020 was built on a team-first ethos.
For Jurgen Klopp, there were no superstars dragging the cart to greatness and winning the Champions League, Super Cup, Club World Cup and the Premier League was achieved without the burden of ego.
Of course, the Liverpool boss was able to name some of the finest players in world football in his teams on a week-to-week basis, but there was no real outlier; a player whose stardom significantly dimmed the shine of those around him.
Virgil van Dijk, during that period in particular, was widely hailed as the planet’s best defender, while Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson ascended to two of the most complete full-backs in the game.
In midfield, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson provided a tireless, powerful engine and Alisson Becker was surely the planet’s preeminent goalkeeper.
Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah - three players informally known to fans as ‘the front three’ collectively - were also at their devastating best as a trio during that time.
Eighteen months on from the peak point of the Klopp era to date, which came when they lifted the Premier League title at Anfield, the Reds are still underpinned by that same mentality.
It remains, for Liverpool, a team game.
READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp remains confident over new Mohamed Salah contract negotiations
After all, at Liverpool FC, no one figure is bigger than the football club.
In Salah, however, they have someone whose star is now at its own highest point at Anfield.
Regarded by plenty as the best footballer walking the planet at present, Salah’s latest interview, as the cover star of GQ Magazine, showcased his growing status as a pop culture icon.
The chat with the American fashion publication yielded few nuggets that those who follow Salah closely won’t have read before, but crucially, - from the player and his representatives’ point of view, at least - it helped introduce him to a new audience.
Liverpool have had no issue with pushing themselves and their players into new directions of coverage in recent years, meaning lifestyle publications like Complex, Versus and GQ have all had the opportunity to sit down with some of the Reds' big names.
Such interviews highlight the players as more than just one-dimensional football characters whose only interest is their profession and one of the most likeable aspects of the team that Klopp has constructed, to supporters of all types, is the personality and genuine camaraderie that exists within the group.
But while supporters thumbed through the best images of the Salah photoshoot this week, the most salient soundbite to those who have worshipped at the altar of the Egyptian King for the last five years centred around his Liverpool contract.
“I want to stay, but it's not in my hands. It's in their hands,” Salah said “They know what I want. I'm not asking for crazy stuff.
“The thing is, when you ask for something and they show you they can give you something, they should. Because they appreciate what you did for the club. I’ve been here for my fifth year now.
"I know the club very well. I love the fans. The fans love me. But with the administration, they have [been] told the situation. It’s in their hands.”
By now, you will be familiar with the situation; Salah’s terms expire in the summer of 2023 and given his repeated public declarations in recent months, he would like to stay beyond that.
Liverpool, or perhaps, their owners Fenway Sports Group - the “administrators” as Salah refers to them in GQ - have yet to return a serve back into the No.11’s court over the last few months.
Publicly, at least.
But if Liverpool's key decision makers are as keen as him to retain him as he is to stay - and there is no reason to think they are not at this stage - then something more firm must be communicated to a fanbase who are just beginning to wonder, even if only so slightly.
Klopp has been guarded in his responses to questions over the issue, offering few clues as to what happens next, despite his apparent relaxed nature over it all.
"A big contract, it is not like buying a smartphone where you just sign one thing and it is done," he said on Friday over the apparent lack of progress.
It is not in the club’s nature to air contract details in front of the media’s eye, and the slick execution of the slew of summer renewals gives hope that a resolution to the whole Salah saga can be swift and sudden.
After all, Alisson, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho and Van Dijk all sorted their respective situations with minimal fuss and it only took a few well-timed articles about Henderson’s disgruntlement for the captain’s to be penned shortly after.
Perhaps, then, this is Salah’s way of cranking up the pressure on the club he would like to remain at for the foreseeable.
Or, alternatively, was he just faithfully answering the pertinent question put in front of him?
Both can be true, of course, and Salah has made no secret of his desire to stay, particularly in the last six months where he has become a more visible and outspoken personality in the media.
Any reporter who has ever attempted to speak to Salah during a post-match mixed zone will know the difficulty of snaring a few minutes of his time.
The Liverpool forward politely declines the chance to speak after games, stopping just twice to date in his career at Anfield.
One was when he reached his 40-goal tally in 2018, making good on a promise to journalists earlier that season, while the other was when he had just become a Champions League winner in Madrid.
So the repeated message that has been emanating from the Salah camp over the last few months should be listened to carefully by those who matter at Liverpool.
Owners FSG may very well be of the conclusion that Salah cannot go anywhere just yet given the only clubs realistically able to afford his transfer fee are Liverpool's biggest Premier League title rivals in Man City and Paris Saint-Germain, where a star-studded cast eviscerate the inferiors of Ligue 1 on a tediously routine basis.
As a strategy, though, it is a dangerous game to play for FSG when Salah can speak to teams about a free transfer in less than 12 months' time.
There will be a mutiny if that is allowed to happen.
Despite Klopp's proven ability to build success on the foundations of the team as opposed to a mere collection of individuals, is it time to finally recognise Salah as a special case in this Liverpool squad?
Any resolution to this impasse will not be found imminently while Salah toils for Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations.
But if the power brokers at Anfield are serious about retaining this once-in-a-generation player, then it should be top of the to-do list upon his return.
