Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is the obvious pick for all of the various Premier League Player of the Year awards this season.
With 56 goal contributions in 51 appearances in all competitions this season, the Egyptian has been sensational. And yet, Ian Wright put another player in the conversation for being the best attacker in the top-flight this season when he and Gary Neville discussed it this week on The Overlap. The former Arsenal striker suggested Alexander Isak instead.
“Best forward, I don’t think we’ll hang around much on this,” Neville said on the podcast, which is sponsored by Sky Bet. “It’s got to be Salah, hasn’t it?”
Wright then offered his thoughts and said Isak, who has scored 27 goals for Newcastle United this season, would be in the conversation as well for him.
Neville replied: “Are you going, Isak, over Salah? Wow, I didn’t think that would be a choice.”
Isak has been excellent for the Magpies, but Salah has been on another level. The Liverpool ace has already picked up the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) award and more accolades are likely on the way.
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In an interview with The Athletic this week, when quizzed about Salah’s impressive tally of 33 goals and 23 assists, Slot admitted that he is not expecting his number 11 to reach those levels again in the next couple of years — despite him now being tied down for a couple more seasons.
“Standards he’s probably not going to live up to in the upcoming two seasons,” Slot said. “I hope he can, but it’s not even necessary. Even if he scores and assists a few less, it will still be a great season.
“But I know Mo, he’s going to try to achieve even more. He’s going to work so hard every single day to do even more special things for this club.”
“Happy, of course,” Slot had said when it was confirmed that Salah had penned a two-year contract extension. “He’s shown at this club for so many years in a row now how much value he has for the team [and] for the club.
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“So, as like I assume all our fans and his teammates, we are very happy that he extended for two more years and hopefully he can show on Sunday again how important he has been for the whole season to us.
“I think for the fans it is [a relief]. I don’t think it is a surprise to you that I knew a bit better how his contract situation went over the course of the whole season.
“So, maybe for the fans it was a pleasant surprise, I knew it a bit longer, of course, that things were heading in the right direction and I think it’s also a big compliment for Richard [Hughes] that he achieved to extend Mo Salah, who is such a great player and as a free agent can go probably to every club in the world wherever he wants to.”
