Running through the best to ever do it in each position, Paul Merson picks Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah as the GOAT winger.
The former Premier League midfielder is prone to the odd outrageous take, but Reds fans won’t begrudge him his choice here.
Salah has struggled for Liverpool this season, but his performances since coming to Anfield put him up there with the very best.
Pick the more underrated Liverpool legend – Roberto Firmino or Jordan Henderson?
Merson gives the Egyptian his favour, but says there’s one wide player better than him right now.
Paul Merson says Mo Salah is the greatest ever winger, but a Premier League rival is moving ahead of him
Merson was interviewed by The Overlap on TikTok, where he was tasked with picking the best now, and the best ever, in each position.
When it came to the winger slot, he went with Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka as the current number one.
Salah and Saka are always compared due to their position, but also their status as the superstar of their title-contending teams.
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Merson explained his current-day pick, saying: “Probably Saka, for being robust and everything.”
I could name five better wingers than Saka this season. Oh, why not? Michael Olise, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Vinicius Jr and Kvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Arsenal FC v Liverpool FC - Premier League
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The bias is understandable — he played for Arsenal for over a decade.
As for the best ever, he answered: “I’ll go Salah, because the numbers he’s put up are ridiculous.”
Even without thinking far back to his playing days, Merson had a lot of options to choose from. Players like Eden Hazard, Gareth Bale and Neymar have all been at the top of the sport in the last ten years.
But he is valuing the jaw-dropping consistency Salah has displayed over the years.
Liverpool have lost their world-class edge
Football is an ever-evolving beast, and the consensus on the world’s best changes every season.
For a long time, Liverpool’s edge was that they had four players in the team who were the best, or at least one of the top three in the world in their position.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was putting up attacking numbers hitherto unseen from a full-back.
Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk were undisputed kings in their positions, and Salah has long been in the conversation for best right-winger on the planet.
Konate earns £70,000-a-week, Liverpool surely need to make a big offer for him to stay?!
Ibrahima Konate during Burnley v Liverpool - Premier League
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With how Liverpool have performed this season, you can’t really make that argument for any of them anymore. It’s a brag we can’t fall back on in debates with rival fans.
For now, anyway. Players like Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremy Jacquet and Dominik Szoboszlai could yet enter that conversation in the coming seasons. The latter is already knocking on the door.
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