'Mohamed Salah is not world class!' - Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr hailed as a better role model than Liverpool attacker as ex-Premier League striker issues brutal verdict on Liverpool hero

Salah is undoubtedly the crowd favourite at Anfield and he has already established himself as one of the finest players to have played for the Merseyside outfit. He has broken multiple records in the Premier League and is the eighth-highest goalscorer in the English top-flight. However, according to Deeney, the Egyptian star is yet to prove himself as a world-class player as the ex-Watford striker claimed that he wants his children to idolise Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior over the Liverpool talisman.

Speaking on talkSPORT as a pundit, the 36-year-old said, "I think Mohamed Salah is excellent, he’s a pivotal part of Liverpool and they should never have let it [his expiring contract] get to this situation. But I understand that there’s a financial structure around what they want to try and keep to.

"My argument has always been that I just don’t think he’s world class. 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."

He added, "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. He's probably going to turn around and say, 'Who the f*** is Troy?' and fair play to him, but that's my opinion."

Vinicius Jr. had a dream outing in the 2023-24 season as he scored multiple goals for club and country and won the Champions League and La Liga titles with Real Madrid. He was in contention for the Ballon d'Or this year, however, Manchester City's Rodri eventually bagged the Golden Ball in Paris.

The 32-year-old, who has already scored eight goals in 11 Premier League appearances in the 2024-25 campaign, will be back in action for the Reds on November 24 as they face Southampton in a league clash.