James Milner believes Mohamed Salah can better the phenomenal impact he had at Liverpool last season but says his teammates must ease the pressure on the Egypt international by sharing responsibility for goals.
Salah needed only one minute to announce his return to the Liverpool team in the early hours of Thursday when equalising against Manchester City in the International Champions Cup game in New Jersey, which ended 2-1 to Liverpool.
The 61st‑minute introduction of the forward turned the friendly significantly in favour of Liverpool, who had previously looked sluggish against a youthful City side. Salah, on his first Liverpool outing since the Champions League final defeat by Real Madrid, also struck the bar, created several chances and was involved in the stoppage‑time penalty that enabled Sadio Mané to seal victory.
Salah scored 44 goals in all competitions for Liverpool last season, including 32 goals in 36 Premier League games, a record in a 38-match season. Milner fully expects the forward to demonstrate he is one of the finest players in the world next season but says the onus is on the Liverpool team to improve in tandem.
“The best players in the world aren’t known because they just did it in one season, they do it over and over again,” Milner said. “He is more than capable of doing that. There is pressure when you have had one good year to deliver again but he is a top player. He’s shown that. He’s going to keep on improving. We need to keep improving as a side with him as well, and make sure that all the pressure is not on his shoulders to deliver goals and get us out of tough situations. It’s down to all of us to help him be the best player he can and do that as part of a team.”
Liverpool have spent more than £170m on new players this summer but securing Salah on a new five-year contract worth around £200,000 a week, without a release clause, was arguably the club’s most important piece of business. Milner agrees, saying: “Yes, but I was never worried personally. There’s always going to be stories when players do well. You saw how well he played last season, improving, and he seems happy. So I don’t see any reason why he’d want to go.
“The speculation [over Real Madrid’s interest in Salah] is what happens when you have good players. That’s a positive thing for us that when there’s speculation about your players it means they are playing well and performing, and he obviously has. You’ve seen what him and Sadio have brought to the team when they’ve come on against City.”
Jürgen Klopp’s squad travelled from New Jersey to Michigan on Thursday before their final ICC fixture against Manchester United in Ann Arbor on Saturday.
