In the last year, or so, there hasn’t been a name in the Premier League able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Mohamed Salah.
Salah leads the way in both goals and assists in the Premier League with 16 and nine, and only Ian Rush has scored more than the Egyptian’s 37 goals in a calendar year for the Reds.
But, still, the Reds number 11 is criminally underrated by so-called ‘football experts’.
A seventh place finish in the 2021 Ballon d’Or was a shock, but not even making a pundits Premier League Team of the Year is an insult to Salah.
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Salah has a combined total of 25 goal involvements in just 20 games in the Premier League this season, meaning every season he has played for Liverpool, he has achieved this.
Garth Crooks' reasoning for not including Salah in his 'Team of the Year' was just bizarre.
“I heard my non-selection of Mohamed Salah in my team of the year got one or two a little hot under the collar,” Crooks said in his Team of the Week column .
“Well, I make no apologies for that. Salah made my team of the season but crudely chased the Golden Boot award.
“His selfishness had a negative effect on Sadio Mane in particular and, in my view, had an adverse effect on Liverpool's campaign last season - a point I made at the time."
It can’t even be argued that Salah scores all his goals against lesser opposition as the 29-year-old scored a record-breaking treble at Old Trafford, has two against Chelsea and scored one of the goals of the season against runaway leaders Manchester City.
What does Salah have to do to earn the respect he deserves? He has already played a key role in Liverpool being crowned Champions of Europe and England.
The upcoming Africa Cup of Nations could be the answer we are looking for. Salah guiding his beloved Egypt to international glory could be what convinces everyone that he is the world’s best.
Salah is the key to Egypt’s success in the tournament, if he carries on his scintillating form then they have as good a chance to win as anyone.
The Reds star is already a national hero and is looked up to by so many around the world - he carries the weight of a nation on his shoulders, but he carries it so well.
Liverpool would love nothing more than for Salah to return to Merseyside as an AFCON champion, so he can carry on proving his doubters wrong.
