Troy Deeney believes Mo Salah is not world-class despite the Egyptian scoring 221 goals for Liverpool – and he explained the reasons for his comments.
Deeney, 36, recently voiced his thoughts on Salah, 32, when appearing on talkSPORT.
The former footballer, who is best known for his time playing in the Premier League for now-Championship side Watford, is not afraid to give his take on things.
"My argument has always been that I just don’t think he [Mo Salah]’s world-class,” he said on the radio show last week.
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"But world-class is just a different opinion, what I think of world-class is, would I want my kids to play like that player? That's what I think is world-class.
“If I was asking my kids who want to be forwards, I would be saying I would like them to look at what Vinicius Jr does as opposed to Mohamed Salah.
"But his goals that he [Salah] scores, he scores an unbelievable amount of goals, he's highly effective, but that’s just my opinion.”
Given the fact Salah has won every trophy available to him at Liverpool, fans were left baffled by the comments.
Despite his contract being set to expire this summer, the Liverpool man has continued to score goals, having netted eight times in 11 Premier League appearances, helping the Reds to the top of the league going into game week 12.
Deeney has now explained his outlandish comments in his column for The Sun.
“The Liverpool player is a brilliant winger, his goalscoring numbers are incredible, and he has achieved some truly amazing things at the club,” wrote Deeney.
“But world class? No.
“Let me make this clear — this is not a personal attack on Salah. I think he is a top player and a great guy.
“I played against him a lot in my career and can appreciate just how good he is.”
However, Deeney did explain how it was not just Salah who he thought was not world-class.
Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe was also dubbed “currently NOT world-class”, according to the former Hornets man.
But he did concede that five players, including two of Salah’s Liverpool teammates, are world-class.
Deeney named Virgil van Dijk, Alisson, Rodri, Erling Haaland and Vinicius Jr as his five world-class players currently plying their trade.
Topics: Liverpool, Premier League, Football, Troy Deeney
Luke Davies