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Gary Neville Names The Premier League’s Three ‘World-Class’ Players

Gary Neville Names The Premier League’s Three ‘World-Class’ Players

Manchester United great picks out three current players that deserve the "rare" tag...

Alex Reid

Alex Reid

Gary Neville has picked out just three Premier League players who deserve the rare tag of "world class" - and none of the trio play for Manchester United.

Analysing Liverpool's 3-1 win over West Ham, the former Man United captain and now Sky Sports pundit reserved the highest praise for Mohamed Salah, who Neville firmly believes belongs in that category.

"We very rarely give the tag of world class, and we do have some world-class performers in the Premier League," he said, speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast.

"There's Kevin De Bruyne and I think Alisson is a world-class goalkeeper, but Salah is a world-class forward and striker."

While Neville didn't specially say they were the only world-class players in the league, it's notable that he stopped there after naming the Manchester City midfielder, Liverpool keeper and his teammate Salah.

Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes has had an exceptional 12 months since joining the club in January 2020, while World Cup winner Paul Pogba was for a time the world's most expensive player when he re-signed for United for £89.3 million in 2016.

However Neville's instant choices are pretty clear. De Bruyne, last season's PFA Player of the Year, has been the league's outstanding player (when fit), while Brazil No 1 Alisson is almost universally viewed as the best goalkeeper in the division.

However after his two goals against West Ham - including a sublime touch and finish for the second - it's no wonder Neville was in the mood to highlight Salah's brilliance.

"Mo Salah completely changed the direction of this game after it drifted for a little bit. He was absolutely brilliant in that 15-minute period where he got the two goals," said Neville.

Of the second, Neville explained: "That first touch and second touch was something different. It was an unbelievable goal.

"One of the best goals I have seen, certainly this season. I'm not going to say any season because we have seen some great goals, but it really did catch our eye. Everybody at home will just think: wow, what a goal!"

Salah's brace means he's scored 20+ goals in every season since he signed for the Reds from Roma in 2017. That makes him the first Liverpool player since Ian Rush to reach the 20-goal mark in four successive seasons.

It's that consistent scoring when Liverpool need him most that, understandably, has Neville ready to slap the world-class label on the Egyptian king.

All imagery: PA Images/Sky Sports

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Topics: Football News, Football, Premier League, Gary Neville, Mohamed Salah

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