Graeme Souness has branded Mohamed Salah "greedy" while describing the Liverpool star as "the most selfish player I've ever seen".
Salah has emerged as one of the most prolific forwards in European football since signing for Liverpool in 2017, scoring 137 goals in 214 appearances for the Merseyside outfit.
Twelve of those efforts have been recorded at the start of the 2021-22 campaign, leading to Jurgen Klopp hailing the Egyptian as the "best player in the world", and Souness has now offered his own take on a talismanic performer.
What's been said?
The Anfield legend has echoed Klopp's sentiments while expressing his belief that Salah's single-mindedness in the final third is what sets him apart from his peers.
"I agree with Jurgen Klopp that Mohamed Salah has been the best player in the world this season," Souness has written in his latest column for The Times.
"He is perhaps as greedy a player as I have seen. All the top names have an element of that but he is extremely selfish.
"Personal targets are important to him and he shoots from every possible angle, which frustrates his team-mates at times — especially Mane. The other players accept it because he is so good.
"When he doesn’t square it, he is either scoring or making goalkeepers work so that the follow-up is a tap-in for someone anyway, which makes it hard for anyone to criticise him.
"He may even take it as a compliment that I think he is the most selfish player I have seen because he is a goal machine."
Souness on Salah's contract situation
Salah has insisted that he would like to see out the remainder of his career at Liverpool, despite ongoing links with Real Madrid, but his current contract is only due to run until June 2023.
The 29-year-old says the final decision on his future is out of his hands, and Souness has urged his former club to do everything possible to tie the Egypt international down to fresh terms.
"I won’t speculate on what he is asking for but Liverpool should give it to him," he added.
"It is in their interests to pay him as much as they can afford and also for Salah to stay at the club where he has clearly had the best spell of his career."
