Salah has been the best player in the league that has been consistently delivering 20 league goals per season. He also delivered in Europe which Hazard failed terribly at
Mo Salah
- Thread starter Robbie Boy
- Start date
For the record (I'm annoyed this has to be spelt out), I was not insinuating Zidane isn't French. That would be silly.
Did you read my initial post at all? I talked about being entertaining and exciting to watch. Not number of goals or delivering in Europe.
It depends on how you look at it. If you're from Mozambique, I can see why you might care that Eusebio is seen as a Portoguese legend and not a Mozambique one. If you're a neutral and considering this from the sidelines, I can see why you wouldn't care about any of it and just consider for which country someone played their international games.
Obviously though, football nationality is a hot mess. It would be more correct if this discussion were phrased as 'best footballer to have played for an African country' instead of 'best African footballer'. But I get why no-one can be bothered to do that.
And to be clear, I don't really care. It's just football. I'm just joining the discussion a bit.
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I was thinking the same thing when I read it yesterdayThe first page of the thread is an absolute car crash
On the criteria that he was better
In all seriousness weah did it in serie a when it was far and away the most, and best defensive league in the world. That for me does it.
Salah is not anything close to being the best African player of all time. He's a fair entry in the discussion but not a genuine contender.
I would argue, he's only the second-best Egyptian player of all time. The best would be Mohammed Aboutrika in my opinion, based on his achievements at both national and club levels.
Aboutrika also would be a more logical candidate for best African player of all time, and for me, he is joined at the very top by Yaya Toure.
I would say, Salah, Mane, Eto, Mahrez, Drogba, Kanu, are all next-tier greats.
Weah I can't say much about because I never watched him play. He did win a Ballon'dor however.
I would argue, he's only the second-best Egyptian player of all time. The best would be Mohammed Aboutrika in my opinion, based on his achievements at both national and club levels.
Aboutrika also would be a more logical candidate for best African player of all time, and for me, he is joined at the very top by Yaya Toure.
I would say, Salah, Mane, Eto, Mahrez, Drogba, Kanu, are all next-tier greats.
Weah I can't say much about because I never watched him play. He did win a Ballon'dor however.
He’s like a juiced RW Bruno.
Both are G/A mutants with an extreme desire to win every game, which results in a lot of play acting and some really suspect decision making at times. Salah has the CL + PL titles to back him up, so I’d hold him a level above.
Not that I particularly care about the argument above, but the players mentioned have nostalgia bias on their side. Salah will absolutely rightly be high up in the conversation when he’s retired.
Salah has had one of the most confusing career trajectories I've ever seen. Looked a bit of a pace merchant at Roma, and when Liverpool signed him nobody quite really batted an eyelid. Then he just exploded.
Aboutrika above Salah Mane Eto’o Drogba is absolutely hilarious, you wouldn’t even put him above Okocha when truth be told.
Or, if you're a Redcafe poster, he hasn't done that either really. He's just bored his way to jammy goals and diving penalties.
When he was at Fiore, he showed lots of skills and pace. At Roma, he showed to be prolific and resourceful.
I know a lot of people throw hate at Mourinho for being unable to excel with Salah and De Bruyne at Chelsea, but I think their talent was still developing. Some footballers do not reach maturity so young, and in Salah's case this was when being +26 yo, playing in a system that greatly boosts his talent and a team that is a serious contender. In 2017-18 when he scored 44 goals I was amazed, Liverpool really played a very strong attacking football but lacked lots of composure in their back 4.
As for him being the "Best African Player of All Time". What he has done is impressibe but I think he still needs to achieve more... Eto'o, Drogba, Madjer, Kanu, Weah... even Grobelaar as a GK are still a bit up, but he certainly can surpass them.
You’re very right, Hazard might have been my favourite player to watch last 10 years in the PL and it wasn’t complete show, he was decisive in two league wins. Can argue Salah is a better player but you’re right in terms of entertainment in style.
Aboutrika was more famous as redcafe poster than as a player ffs.
Maybe if he didn't play for Liverpool I'd appreciate his talent more. At this point he's just annoying. Him and everyone else that plays for Liverpool.
This really proves how good he is. As he is annoyingly good just like Suarez is. He is going to go down as one of the best in the PL if he keeps this up his record is up there with the best.
Hats off to the diving cnut he's flying.
Which Kanu are we talking about here?
I think it has to be this because if you bring in all players born in Africa then you also get the likes of Vieira, Bosingwa, Evra, Desailly, Umtiti, Makelele, Nani, Zaha, Benteke etc. etc. Many don’t think of these players as African, even though they could accurately be described as such.
I understand that many of these can be distinguished from Eusebio because they went to their respective European countries as young children but Mozambique was supposedly ‘part’ of Portugal in Eusebio’s time, which further complicates matters.
Basically, it’s very complex. I totally take your point that nationality is a minefield.
He is a diving twat and plays for the scouse but he is incredibly underrated on here. He literally has the same records as some of the best in PL history
8 goals in 8 appearances this season. Started very well.
Maybe Eto'o is in the highest tier actually, but Mane and Drogba are a clear level below. It's easy to see when you compare what they have done at the level of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Aboutrika never left Africa for Europe so that may count against him on a popularity basis but the man is an absolute institution of African football.
He was a midfielder who:
Scored 33 times in 100 international games
Inspired consecutive Egyptian league, CAF Champions League, and Africa Cup of Nation wins within the 5 year period of 2005 - 2010
Was top scorer at one FIFA Club World Cup
Was top assister at another, both of which prove he had the level to excel in Europe if he chose to
All of this is unprecedented in African football and Okocha, as much as I love him, doesn't come close.
Now Salah has certainly done his business at club level but he doesn't have anything like Abouttrika's impact at national level.
To be considered an all time great, you have to have both. So even if the Egyptian league was not quite the level of the premier league, I'm not going to hold that against a player who never moved to Europe.
Only if you're not African.
Exactly.
Ronaldo took over top international goal scorer from Ali Daei who scored 109 goals yet flopped at Hertha and Bayern and went back to Al Saad.
I'm actually starting to think he might be our best goal scorer in recent times. He's on a goals to games ratio of 0.63. By comparison:
Suarez = 0.62
Torres = 0.57
Owen = 0.53
Fowler = 0.5
Suarez might've ended up higher if he'd hung around longer but it's hard to say.
Suarez = 0.62
Torres = 0.57
Owen = 0.53
Fowler = 0.5
Suarez might've ended up higher if he'd hung around longer but it's hard to say.
Yeah, exactly. Obviously, this discussion is just about who played for African countries, but if someone would look at the people that have been mentioned and say 'so Africa never produced a GOAT contender' - that's where it goes wrong. Cause someone like Eusebio was clearly 'produced' by Africa.
Anyway. Salah eh!
Far from the same thing. Aboutreika played against alot of these players in contention and was better than them on the same stage.
Is he underrated? I'd say he's one of their 6 world class players.
210 games 131 goals. He is considered great on here but some(it is a United forum so it’s expected) think he’s not up there with the best in the league.
His record since joining Liverpool matches nearly everyone in PL history yet some on here still say he’s not a world class player.
His record on a international level is excellent but Salah has over 100 PL goals has won PL and CL he on a domestic level is miles ahead
We've been singing about Martial being a world beater for years. If Salah was at United we'd have built him a shrine already.
That’s exactly what I mean. Salah keeps this up for 2-3 more seasons and he will be up there with the best in the PL history. I get this is a United forum and same as RAWK will downplay our players it’s just natural but I have read some crazy comments saying he’s nothing special or seriously overrated
Well, I'm in the camp of thinking Alexander-Arnold is an outrageous player, and it's pretty popular here to shit on him. If he were at United we'd be absolutely mesmerised by him, despite his defensive flaws. With Salah it's simply impossible to deny his class.
I’ll admit I thought a while back that we should sell him and spend the money on Sancho or some other talent. Think I even posted it on here. Goes to show how much I really know.
Aboutreika never played on those stages, on the stage he did play on he dominated like no other. He did play against players who excelled on those stages and looked better than them. Ask the likes of Drogba, Essien, Eto'o what he did to their teams.
Why though ? Didn’t he play for Al Ahly ? As I said he might have a good international career but hasn’t a patch on Salah overall