The numbers behind Mohamed Salah’s ‘special’ season rivalling Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo peak

Another week, another record. Mohamed Salah took his extraordinary season to further heights with a goal and assist in Liverpool’s 2-0 win at Manchester City, a result that takes the Reds a step closer to winning just a second league title in 35 years.

Salah’s 25th Premier League goal and 16th assist of the campaign means he is on course to smash the current record, held by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole, for the most Premier League goal involvements in a single season. At 32, and with his Liverpool contract running out in the summer, Salah’s form is better than ever and the Egyptian is being driven on by his motivation of adding a second Premier League crown.

“Maybe people prefer my first seasons or now, but I prefer now because winning the league, helping the young players. It is special,” he told Sky Sports after Liverpool opened up an 11-point lead at the top of the Premier League. “We need another title.”

Salah’s 241st goal for Liverpool in all competitions saw him move level Gordon Hodgson and into third place in the club’s all-time goalscorers list. He has been on target 182 times in the Premier League, enough to sit sixth overall, but he is now only two behind Manchester City’s record scorer Sergio Aguero, and five behind Cole, the former Manchester United, Newcastle and Blackburn striker.

While Salah has already left his mark on Liverpool and Premier League history, regardless of whether he stays or leaves in the summer, his current campaign is turning into one of the greatest individuals seasons ever seen in the top-flight.

The greatest Premier League season ever?

While Salah acknowledged that his debut season at Liverpool still stands out, given he scored 32 Premier League goals following his transfer from Roma in 2017, the 32-year-old’s all-round attacking game has improved drastically since his return to England.

Salah’s assist for Dominik Szoboszlai in the 2-0 win at Manchester City was the latest example of the winger setting up a team-mate from the right wing, as he raced away on the break, dribbled past defender Josko Gvardiol and laid the chance on a plate for the arriving Hungarian.

It was his 16th Premier League assist of the season, which combined with 25 goals means he has 41 goal involvements in just 27 appearances. Salah is now just six away from equalling Shearer and Cole’s record, with 11 games remaining this season. Shearer and Cole hit those totals during 42-game campaigns, as well.

Salah is also the first player to register 40+ goal involvements in two different seasons. and, by a quirk of the run-in schedule, seven of Liverpool’s remaining games will be played at Anfield as he closes in the greatest Premier League seasons of all time. At his current rate, Salah will finish the season on 58 goal involvements.

Can Salah break Thierry Henry’s assist record?

Thierry Henry’s 2002-03 campaign is widely regarded as one of the greatest Premier League season of all time and remains the only instance of a forward recording 20+ goals and 20+ assists in one term. The Arsenal forward’s Premier League record has stood for almost 23 years, despite several players being on track to surpass it only to fall away over the second half of the season.

The latest example of this trend was Bukayo Saka, who had 10 assists through the first 13 games of the season before injuring his hamstring before Christmas.

Salah, though, is appearing to get stronger as the season goes on, with three assists in his last four games in the Premier League. He needs five more over the final 11 games of the season to surpass Henry and Kevin De Bruyne, who equalled the Frenchman’s total in 2019-20.

Salah has also become the first player in Premier League history to both score and assist in 11 different matches this season, a feat he achieve twice against the reigning champions. He’s the first player in the competition’s history to manage that, too.

And while Erling Haaland’s Premier League record for goals in a single season, 36, would require Salah to strike at a rate of a goal a game over the rest of the campaign, the assist record is definitely within reach.

Comparisons with Messi and Ronaldo

Salah is also the first player in Europe’s top five league to both score and assist in 11 matches since Lionel Messi for Barcelona in 2014-15. It’s not the first time Salah’s output has drawn comparison with Messi and his Cristiano Ronaldo, who pushed each other to unprecedented levels of goalscoring figures during the peak of great rivalry while at Barcelona and Real Madrid.

The heights Messi and Ronaldo reached between 2011 and 2015 remains untouchable – what they produced in the years after would still be astonishing, if it wasn’t for their outrageous total set before then. Messi, for example, scored 50 LaLiga goals and notched another 16 assists in 2011-12, while Ronaldo hit 48 goals and recorded another 16 assists in his standout LaLiga campaign in 2014-15.

Salah’s current season compared with Messi and Ronaldo’s peak years does not look out of place, however, bearing in mind the 32-year-old still has another 11 games to go. Former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge said on Sky Sports that Salah is returning “Ballon d’Or” numbers.

His best season for Liverpool

Given the records set by Salah this season, it remains extraordinary that he could be allowed to walk away for free after lifting the Premier League title at Anfield in May. Salah will turn 33 in June but he has never been more productive in the Premier League.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” said Liverpool manager Arne Slot after the win at Manchester City. “Today there weren’t that many moments we could bring him into promising positions but the seven, eight, nine, 10 moments that we gave him the ball in those positions he was every time a threat and that probably tells you even more the quality player he is.”

On Sky Sports, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said he could set a record that may never be topped. “This is going to end up being the greatest season we have ever seen from an individual, I have no doubt about that,” said Carragher. “It’s not just about whether he finishes above those players, it’s that he will maybe set the bar so high that in the future nobody can get there ever again. We are seeing something special.”

Salah is also set to win his fourth Premier League golden boot in eight seasons at Liverpool. He won it outright in his first season at Anfield before sharing it twice, with team-mate Sadio Mane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 2019 and with Son Heung-min in 2022. A fourth golden boot would equal Henry’s record.

How high could Salah get in all-time records?

Well, that depends on whether Salah remains a Liverpool player after the summer. He is out of contract, along with Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, and has long been linked with a mega-money move to Saudi Arabia.

But if Salah is as motivated by records as his form suggests, the Egyptian could be on course to leave his name in this history books if he does extend his stay at Anfield to a ninth season.

Salah’s 241 Liverpool goals means he is only behind Roger Hunt (285) and Ian Rush (346) in the all-time goalscoring charts. Rush’s record, achieved in 660 games, seems unbeatable, but another season of Salah at this level could see him overhaul the great Hunt, who scored his 285 goals in 492 games.

Shearer’s all-time record of 260 Premier League goals is also an imposing mark and Salah would likely need at least three more seasons in England to top that. But his 182 goals means he is closing in on not just Aguero and Cole, but Wayne Rooney (208) and Harry Kane (213).