Former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey believes Mohamed Salah should have left the club this summer had they failed to wrap up the Premier League title.
After a long and nervous wait amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the Reds finally claimed England's top-flight competition in June this year, ultimately finishing 18 points clear of second-place Manchester City.
While Salah failed to secure a third straight Golden Boot, his 19 league goals proved crucial as he continued to star for Jurgen Klopp's side.
Heskey stressed Salah's importance to Liverpool going forward but admits if the club failed to end their Premier League drought this season, he would have advised the Egyptian attacker to find a new club.
“Mohamed Salah is a very important player for the team. If he’s not in it, you find Liverpool losing a lot of their strength going forward," Heskey told ONTime Sport.
“Everyone on the pitch needs him, he scores and creates goals. [Roberto] Firmino and [Sadio] Mane play well in Salah’s presence. He's a big part of the team’s strength and the trophies they've won.
"From my point of view, he should stay at Liverpool. If they didn’t win the league, I would have said that he should move to another place where he could win the title.
“But now that he's won the league, he must continue and try to win it again and again. Salah has won all the titles with Liverpool but the challenge is to continue and try to win them again."
Salah, who is currently contracted at Anfield until 2023, has previously been linked with interest from Real Madrid and did cast some doubt over his immediate future last month.
"No-one knows the future and what will happen. Let's see what will happen," Salah told LA FM Colombia in July.
"But at the moment we win the Champions League, we win the Premier League, I'm happy. Let's see what will happen in the future, but I'm very happy to win and achieve those trophies."
Despite another successful season at Anfield, not everyone has been impressed by Salah's performances with Graeme Souness labelling the attacker "super selfish" after a match against Brighton.
"I think Mane has fallen out with him [Salah] in the past over occasions where he feels he should have passed to him to score a goal and he shot himself," Souness told Sky Sports.
"So I think there is an element in all goalscorers that they’re greedy at times, but I think he takes it to another level."
