Gary Neville compares Liverpool star to Man Utd legend Eric Cantona

Gary Neville has explained how and why Mohamed Salah reminds him of Manchester United icon, Eric Cantona, after the Liverpool ace was once again the difference at the weekend.

Salah fired Liverpool one step closer to lifting the Premier League title on Sunday when grabbing a goal and an assist in the 2-0 victory over Manchester City.

Salah holds comfortable leads in both the goals and assists categories in the Premier League this season. While it’d be unfair to ignore the contributions from the likes of Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz, it cannot be argued Salah has once again been by far the most important man in Liverpool’s attack.

Indeed, the Egyptian winger has been directly involved in (either scored or assisted) 41 of Liverpool’s 64 goals in the Premier League this season. That works out at a mind-boggling 64 percent.

And speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast in the aftermath of Liverpool doing the double over City this season, Man Utd legend Neville heaped almighty praise on the winger.

“He’s been class for his whole time at Liverpool,” began Neville. “He’s unplayable at the moment, psychologically he’s in the head of the opponent that he’s up against. When you play against someone that you think, ‘I’m gonna smash him, I’m gonna knock him, I’m gonna go through him’ — you can’t.

“He’s like a brick wall. When that ball gets played up to him from 40-50 yards from Alisson and he’s chesting it down and holding off [Josko] Gvardiol who is six foot three like he’s a little boy, and he’s been doing that all season. I’ve not seen that in the past.

“When [Virgil] van Dijk pings an 80-yard pass to him in the second half and you just know he’s going to bring it down perfectly on a sixpence.

“Everything is so polished and so perfect and so slow. And when I say slow I mean, being in the final third is the most frantic place of a football pitch, but everything just feels so composed and slow motion when he’s on the ball, you know he’s going to play the pass at the right moment, you know it’s going to be the right weight of pass, you know he’s going to play the right cross, you know he’s going to be efficient with his shooting.

“He’s at the top of his game, he’s a different level to anything else in the league this season in terms of his performance levels and he is world class. Liverpool obviously will be desperate to try and keep him.

“He’s one of the very best players that the Premier League has seen. That’s 11 games this season that he’s had a goal and an assist in each game, it’s amazing, absolutely amazing.”

Neville went on to compare Salah to legendary United striker, Eric Cantona, who was arguably the most influential player in the Premier League’s early years.

Cantona not only helped United to lift their first league title (1992) since 1967, but helped establish the Red Devils as the dominant force in English football in the 1990s.

While Liverpool cannot claim to be as dominant as United were given the presence of Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, Neville suggested Salah’s ability to deliver in the most challenging moments is reminiscent of Cantona in his pomp.

“Van Dijk is special, Alisson is a great goalkeeper, and they’ve got other good players in the team,” continued Neville.

“But I think that when you’re a player who’s sat back there in your shape for 90 minutes, and Van Dijk and [Ibrahima] Konate did it really well today, you always have to be most grateful for the player who goes and wins you the match, because that’s the most difficult thing to do and the most special thing and that’s what Salah has gone and done.

“In my first title season at United, Cantona scored single goals and you just thought, ‘that’s the difference player, the player who just delivers at the most challenging moment, at the crux of the season when the title is on the line when you’re playing against the best teams, who is going to stand up and win you the match.’

“And that’s what Salah is for Liverpool.”

So, just to recap, here are ALL the records that Mohamed Salah set vs Manchester City tonight:

◉ Mo Salah is the first player in Premier League history to register 40+ goal involvements in TWO different seasons.

◉ Mo Salah is the first player in Europe’s top five leagues to… pic.twitter.com/sSdASdboOC

— Squawka (@Squawka) February 23, 2025

Everything Mo Salah has said on his Liverpool future

By Samuel Bannister

“Before the season, I was just like, ‘I’ve got one year left, let’s just enjoy it and don’t think about the contract’. I don’t want to think about next year or the future, I just want to enjoy the last year and let’s see.

“The most important thing is to take one day at a time and just be grateful to be here.” – September 2024, speaking to Sky Sports before a game against Manchester United

“As you know it’s my last year in the club. I just want to enjoy it and not think about it. I feel I’m free to play football and we’ll see what will happen next year.

“I was coming to the game, I said look, it could be the last time [coming to Old Trafford]. Nobody talked to me yet about contracts, so I just play my last season, and we’ll see at the end of the season. But so far, yeah, my last game here with Liverpool.” – September 2024, after the game against Man Utd

“No matter what happens, I will never forget what scoring at Anfield feels like.” – November 2024, on Instagram after a game against Brighton

“Well, we are almost in December and I haven’t received any offers yet to stay in the club. I’m probably more out than in.

“You know I have been in the club for many years. There is no club like this. But in the end, it is not in my hands. As I said before, it is December and I haven’t received anything yet about my future.

“I love the fans. The fans love me. In the end, it is not in my hands or the fans’ hands. Let’s wait and see. I’m not going to retire soon so I’m just playing, focusing on the season and I’m trying to win the Premier League and hopefully the Champions League as well. I’m disappointed but we will see.” – November 2024, after a game against Southampton

“It’s my last year in the club so you want to do something special for the city.

“So far, yes. It’s the last six months [of my time at Liverpool]. There is no progress there. We are far away from any progress. So, we just need to wait and see.” – January 2025, speaking to Sky Sports

POLL: If you’re Mo Salah, what would you do? ⬇️