When Mohamed Salah arrived at Anfield in 2017 for £34m, few could have foreseen just how big an impact he would have at Liverpool.
The former Chelsea reject had a point to prove on his return to the Premier League and has since established himself in Liverpool legend with his consistency, quality and ruthless professionalism.
The fleet-footed Egyptian is the club’s third top goalscorer of all-time and has now reached a new milestone in a red shirt, netting his 200th goal for Liverpool against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
It often feels as if Salah remains under-appreciated. Perhaps it’s merely a case of the winger being so relentlessly brilliant that we forget to applaud his greatness. But there can be few doubts that he is one of the best players to ever grace the Anfield turf.
Here is how the sensational Salah brought up 200 goals for Jurgen Klopp’s Reds.
Salah’s first game in a Liverpool shirt certainly reminded him of the chaos of Premier League football. The Reds travelled to Vicarage Road on the opening day, but could only manage a 3-3 draw with Watford after conceding a stoppage-time equaliser.
His goal would have proved the winner if it wasn’t for Miguel Britos’ late header, the Egyptian netting on his competitive Liverpool debut.
It also served as the beginning of a blossoming relationship with Roberto Firmino, the Brazlian dinking over the onrushing Heurelho Gomes before Salah bundled the ball over the line in front of the away supporters.
The first of many for Liverpool’s No. 11.
It proved to be a pretty special first season for Salah on Merseyside. Not only did the Reds reach a Champions League final thanks to his contributions, the Egyptian also claimed the Premier League Golden Boot with a record tally.
Salah bagged on the final day of the season in a 4-0 win over Brighton to grab his 32nd of the Premier League season, breaking the previous record for a 38-game campaign held by Luis Suarez from the 203/14 season.
Unfortunately for Salah, Erling Haaland has since broken that particular record, netting 36 in his first Premier League campaign.
A little over a year after his arrival on Merseyside, Salah managed to bring up a half-century of Liverpool goals. It may have come from the penalty spot in a 4-0 hammering of Red Star in the Champions League, but it was a record-breaking strike.
With his converted spot-kick Salah became the fastest Liverpool player to reach 50 goals for the club, doing so in just 65 games. To put that into perspective, the club’s record goalscorer Ian Rush took 87 matches, while Fernando Torres was the quickest player to do so in the Premier League era prior to Salah in 84 games.
While not all of Salah’s first 50 Premier League goals came with the Reds – two were scored during his time at Chelsea – the forward still managed his half-century in the English top flight in a Liverpool shirt.
Salah scored a brace in a chaotic 4-3 win over Crystal Palace at Anfield, becoming the fourth quickest player to reach 50 goals in the Premier League after hitting the total in 72 matches.
However, Salah has now dropped to fifth thanks to, you guessed it, Haaland, who achieved the feat in just 48 matches.
Scoring in a Champions League final is an achievement few footballers achieve, but Salah did exactly that on the way to the trophy in 2019. The Reds beat Tottenham 2-0 in the final in Madrid, with the winger’s early penalty helping steady the nerves at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Regardless of whether you think it was a penalty or not, Salah had nerves of steel stepping up to the spot, thrashing the ball beyond Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal.
Divock Origi would pop with a late goal to secure the victory, Salah lifting his first major trophy with the Reds as a result. Not a bad one to win.
A game that is better known for Jordan Pickford’s horror tackle on Virgil van Dijk, Salah managed to reach the 100 club for Liverpool in a 2-2 draw against Everton in the Merseyside derby.
Played at an empty Goodison Park, Salah thought he had won the game with an instinctive half-volley from just inside the area with 20 minutes to play, but Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s header ensured that wasn’t the case.
Only Roger Hunt (144) and Jack Parkinson (153) reached a century of Liverpool goals faster, Salah managing the feat in 159 matches.
One of the more recent milestones reached by Salah came against Norwich City back in February 2022, the former Roma man grabbing his 150th Liverpool goal in a 3-1 win over the Canaries.
It was a rare Alisson assist that created the goal, the Brazilian firing up field before Salah took the ball in his stride, jinking back on to his left foot and firing beyond the Norwich goalkeeper.
Liverpool goal number 200 for Salah came when the chips were down. Klopp’s side trailed 1-0 at Crystal Palace and were deservedly behind for much of the second half.
The game flipped when Jordan Ayew picked up a second yellow card in the latter stages, with Salah scoring an equaliser soon after the Eagles were reduced to ten men. Harvey Elliott would score the winner in stoppage time.
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