Mohamed Salah's Legacy at Liverpool: A Once-in-a-Generation Player

On Sunday at Anfield, as Brentford file out of the tunnel and the Kop roars one more time, an era ends.

Mohamed Salah’s era.

Nine years on Merseyside.

257 goals.

A place as the third-highest scorer in Liverpool’s history and a permanent seat in the club’s pantheon.

This is not just the farewell of a great goalscorer. It is the closing chapter of a standard-setter, a cultural figure, a player whose presence reshaped what Liverpool believed was possible.

A once‑in‑a‑generation force

Virgil van Dijk has spent much of his Liverpool career watching Salah from the best seat in the house – 60 yards behind him.

“There are so many words that can be said about him,” the captain said. “He’s been an incredible football player, so influential. Absolute special player. Once-in-a-lifetime player, in my opinion.”

Van Dijk has seen the numbers stack up – the goals, the assists, the unrelenting work – but his focus lands on the way Salah dragged Liverpool forward, year after year. The devastating trident with Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino. The pressing. The running. The relentlessness.

“He’s just incredible and [a] leader by example in the things that he does,” Van Dijk added. “Someone that’s so important for the football club over all those years and a big part of the successes that we have.”

The successes were seismic. Champions League glory in 2019 cracked open the door. Two Premier League titles followed, Salah a near-ever-present talisman, the face of a side that hunted down history rather than hid from it.

Standards, not just stats

Ask Alisson Becker what he sees when he looks at Salah and he doesn’t start with the left foot or the goal tally.

“I think he’s one of the most important players of the history of this club,” the goalkeeper said. “He’s on the top with so many others. His achievements, his records broken, for goals, for assists, for so many things. For time spent in the gym as well!”

That last line is not a throwaway. It is the core of the Salah story inside the dressing room.

“Someone that works really hard, doesn’t rely only on his qualities but improves his qualities on the pitch, in the gym, at home, as everyone can see,” Alisson continued. “Mo leaves here a legacy as well about standards. He’s someone that you can tell your kids, ‘Look to this guy. If you want to be someone good you can follow him on the things that he does.’”

James Milner, the embodiment of professionalism for two decades, saw the same thing.

“You need different types of leaders and Mo was a big leader,” Milner said. “The standards he set every day – not only in training, in the gym, off the field – he led, for sure, by example.”

For the young players walking into Melwood and then Kirkby, Salah was not just the star on the billboard. He was the manual.

“When you see someone doing so well on the pitch and seeing what they’re doing every day, and you have young players coming through and players signing, it’s like, ‘This is what it is to be a top player, this is what it is to be a Liverpool player.’”

Greatness recognised by greatness

You know a player’s level by the company he keeps in conversations. Steven Gerrard, a man who spent his prime trading blows with the very best, did not hesitate to place Salah among the game’s rarest talents.

“When I was at my peak and I felt like I could play and compete against any individual or I felt I could influence games at the top level, I still felt there were a bunch of players that operated on a different level,” Gerrard said.

He listed them: Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane, Xavi, Andres Iniesta.

“Salah’s in that level, Salah is in that level,” Gerrard insisted. “Don’t let anyone else tell you any different – he’s in that level.”

Fernando Torres, another Liverpool icon who knows what it means to carry the weight of a club on your back, echoed that sentiment.

“For me, [he is a] top player and one of the best players in the last 10 years,” Torres said. “[He is] my favourite player [and] I put him among the best players in the world in the last 10 years.”

Robbie Fowler, whose own records Salah hunted down, saw his status harden with every season.

“I think he’s been an astonishing player for Liverpool,” Fowler said. “His numbers, his games, his performances, his record have been outstanding. I think he’s been one of Liverpool’s greats in the Premier League. He’s also been one of the Premier League greats.”

Ian Rush, the benchmark for Liverpool forwards for decades, admired not just the finishing but the intelligence.

“Not just a goalscorer but the way he plays, he’s got a great football brain in there,” Rush said. “When Mo’s going down that wing, he’s absolutely incredible. All Liverpool fans will love him and be sad to see him leave.”

The obsession behind the curtain

From the outside, Salah’s brilliance can look effortless. Inside the training ground, it looked like something else entirely.

“I never met a guy – a player but also a human being – who is more committed to the life of being a professional football player,” said Pepijn Lijnders, Jürgen Klopp’s long-time assistant.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain watched the routine up close and could barely believe it.

“I’ve never seen anyone do what Mo does – every hour of the day,” he admitted. “To the point where I straight up look at him and think, ‘I don’t think I could do that and fair play, you deserve everything you do.’ It was obsession.”

Milos Kerkez, a younger teammate, tried to absorb as much as he could in a short time.

“What really put him [apart] from everyone is how professional he is, it’s unbelievable,” Kerkez said. “Doing all the gym stuff, eating healthy, how focused he is on doing everything [so] that he can perform his best on the pitch. That’s really unbelievable. That’s what I tried to learn from him in this year, also to pick it up.”

The theme repeats, from academy graduates to seasoned internationals. Trent Alexander-Arnold, a local lad turned world-class full-back, summed it up in one word: relentless.

“A relentless drive to be better and to be the best,” he said. “Every single day he had a drive to keep getting better and better. He was never satisfied. Even with every record that he shattered, there was always something else he was chasing. Incredible.”

Teammates, and something more

For all the goals and medals, the stories that surface most often are about the man behind the numbers.

Thiago Alcantara arrived with a Barcelona and Bayern Munich education and still found himself learning from the Egyptian.

“Suddenly, a guy with a similar age of mine, you learn a lot,” Thiago said. “Not just on the pitch… But the behaviour and the human that was behind the player. Amazing human being, amazing professional. Keeps you hungry as well all the time. One of the best teammates I ever had.”

Roberto Firmino, the silent architect of so many Salah goals, spoke with the warmth of a brother.

“He’s a good guy that everyone likes, that everyone admires a lot,” Firmino said. “On the pitch, during his time at Liverpool he built the history and legacy he is leaving. And he has a beautiful heart. I’m grateful to God for having the privilege of playing alongside Mo Salah.”

Jordan Henderson saw a player who balanced individual ambition with collective obsession.

“He wanted to be the best player,” the former captain said. “He probably wanted to break all those records, but he wanted the win for the team as well, he wanted to win trophies, he wanted to help the team as much as he could.

“There’s a difference between being the best player, and being the best player and the best human being – and I feel like Mo is both of those.”

Luis Diaz, a later arrival, felt the imprint quickly.

“He always wants to win titles and give his best for the club,” Diaz said. “Always wanting to be a better player, a better person. That leaves a profound mark on you and he left a profound mark on me.”

Andy Robertson, who spent years overlapping and underlapping down the opposite flank, has watched the evolution from close quarters.

“Watching you become the best at what you do and become one of the best to ever have worn the Liverpool shirt has been a joy to watch and be part of,” Robertson said. “Your mentality is second-to-none and a lot of people could take note. You have pushed yourself every single day and always demanded more from yourself and others.”

Then the line that will resonate with many in that dressing room: “A pleasure sharing the pitch with you for so long but even more so being able to call you a friend. You deserve a send-off that reflects your status at LFC – the greatest. Second-to-none.”

Joe Gomez, another long-serving teammate, framed it simply.

“One of the greatest to ever wear the shirt,” he said. “It’s been a pleasure having the countless hours watching your greatness first-hand in so many ways. Everyone knows about your mentality and work ethic – the numbers just cement your legacy forever.”

For Harvey Elliott, Salah has been guide as much as idol.

“[Salah] was giving me pointers like what I needed to do, how I needed to do things, the philosophy of how we play, and what the manager wants,” Elliott said. “Even to this day, me and him have a really close connection now. And I’d say it’s more of a friendship than him just trying to help me out.”

The manager’s verdict

Jürgen Klopp, the man who built a team around Salah’s ferocious edge, does not hand out superlatives lightly. On this subject, he did not hold back.

“We will realise – I think we know already, we have a sense – we saw greatness,” Klopp said. “And that’s what he is. He’s an all-time great, he’s an incredible football player, he’s an incredible guy…”

Klopp also pointed to a role that stretched far beyond Anfield.

“He is an incredible ambassador for the whole Arabic world, in a difficult time we are living in,” Klopp said. “You have this guy who shows like, yeah, here we go, we’re all the same, we’re all together, we love the same things, we fight for the same things, all these kinds of things. That’s what he shows. And, yeah, I couldn’t be prouder of him.”

Arne Slot, who has only just begun working with Salah, needed barely a day to understand why his reputation towers over the last decade.

“So many good players around the world [and] he’s definitely one of them in the last 10 years, that everybody talks about being one of the best there is and was in the last 10 years,” Slot said. “To show that hunger every three days, that professionalism, that commitment to the club, to the team, to wanting to score again, always wanting to play – when you take him out three minutes before the end, he’s like, ‘Maybe I could have scored one extra!’ – that is what stands out for me.

“Everything he’s done for the club, but the moment I started working with him I knew it after one day, let alone after a few weeks or months, that it isn’t a coincidence that he’s been so influential in the last 10 years in football.”

Beyond expectations

Daniel Sturridge, who shared a dressing room with Salah in those early, explosive years, highlighted the inner drive that turned promise into dominance.

“One of the great attributes of attackers is to always feel like you want to help the team with numbers,” Sturridge said. “With the truly great ones it’s an obsession that you have to have. I think he has that and had it in abundance.”

“A really good teammate,” he added. “All in all, I think he’s just somebody who achieved above expectations. I don’t think anybody ever thought he would be what he’s become, besides himself. It’s testament to his attitude, to his drive, to his will, to his dedication.”

From Basel to Rome to Liverpool, that arc has been fuelled by the same thing: an unshakeable belief that he could stand with the very best. The people who have worked alongside him no longer debate whether he reached that level. They speak as though it is settled fact.

On Sunday, Anfield will say goodbye to its No.11. The banners will rise, the songs will roll around the old ground, and somewhere in the noise there will be an understanding that players like this do not come around often.

The goals will be replayed for years. The records will sit in the books. The legacy, though, lives in something less tangible: the standards he leaves behind, and the question that will hang over Liverpool for seasons to come.

How do you replace a once-in-a-lifetime player?