Mohamed Salah convinced Liverpool have what takes to achieve target

Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah 2021

Mohamed Salah insists Liverpool are gunning for the Premier League title this season after finishing off the pace last season.

The Reds won the Premier League in 2019/20 with a 99-point haul, but they struggled to keep pace with Man City last time around.

The two teams met at Anfield on Sunday and produced a breathless 2-2 draw in which Liverpool were pegged back twice.

The 29-year-old Salah sscored an individual wonder goal against their main rivals – the seventh successive match in which he has scored.

Both Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane believe the current champions are the favourites to follow up their title win.

Carragher said: “Man City are the team to beat. The game last week against Chelsea was a big one for me.

“It was a complete domination and it was similar for periods today in that first half. For me, they are the team to beat.”

But Salah is confident Liverpool can push Pep Guardiola’s men all the way.

“We really wanted to win this one but we’re still in the game,” Salah wrote on social media.

“We’re going for the title and we have what it takes.”

When the title went back to Anfield for the first time in 30 years Salah scored 23 goals in 48 appearances, ironically his worst goalscoring campaign at the club.

His nine goals already is three better than his previous best after nine matches.

The Egypt star shows no signs of slowing down after scoring 134 in 212 Liverpool appearances. And that is a record defender Andy Robertson believes deserves more credit.

“He’s right up there for me. I still think he is incredibly underrated in terms of the way people speak about him,” said the Scotland captain.

“The goal is something that was out of the top, top drawer. When that goal went in, I think everybody was in shock.

“It’s just a shame it wasn’t the winning goal because it certainly deserved it.

“In a high (quality) game, with two teams full of really good players, for somebody to pop up with that it really is sensational.”

Liverpool shortlist RB Salzburg's Karim Adeyemi and Villarreal's Arnaut Danjuma

Liverpool shortlist RB Salzburg's Karim Adeyemi and Villarreal's Arnaut Danjuma

Liverpool have reportedly shortlisted RB Salzburg's Karim Adeyemi and Villarreal's Arnaut Danjuma as potential targets, with more updates on Brighton's Yves Bissouma and Pogon Szczecin'a Kacper Kozlowski.

 

Salah has just over 20 months to remain on his existing contract and the club are keen to tie him down to an extension.

However, despite negotiations one of the main stumbling blocks appears to be wage demands. Reports suggest Salah wants upwards of £300,000-a-week and that is a figure which would smash the club’s current pay structure.


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Incredible pro

Owners Fenway Sports Group have been reluctant to offer longer contracts to players over the age of 30.

Georginio Wijnaldum departed last summer after the club refused to hand him the contract he wanted. Salah though may just be the exception with his team-mate suggesting he could maintain his current form well into his 30s.

 

“Mo is an incredible pro, and incredible footballer and an incredible person,” Robertson, speaking to Premier League Live, added.

“Off the pitch he works so hard to keep fit and stay in the shape he is and to put everything into his game and improve.

“He is getting better and better every season but that goal was, I think, right up there with his best for Liverpool.

“For him to keep producing season after season is incredible consistency and long may that continue.”

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