Henderson hails Salah contribution: ‘He brings so much to us’

Jordan Henderson has praised the contribution of Mohamed Salah to Liverpool’s season so far after the No.11 notched his 50th Premier League goal for the club at Southampton on Friday night.

The Egyptian reached his half-century with a wonderful solo goal in the 80th minute at St Mary’s that put the Reds in front on their way to a 3-1 success.

It means Salah’s overall tally for the club stands at an astonishing 65 strikes in just 95 appearances in all competitions since his transfer from AS Roma in June 2017.

Henderson wrote in his column in the official matchday programme: “I have to admit it made me smile to hear and read after the Southampton game that Mo Salah has ended his ‘drought’ when he scored our second goal.

“In fairness to the ‘Egyptian King’ he made a good point in the live post-match TV interview by pointing out how many games I’d had to wait for a goal. Even though the joke was at my expense I loved that he wasn’t having it and gave a little nibble back at the premise of the question.

“The goal was a landmark one for Mo because it took him to 50 in the Premier League for our club. I saw afterwards that he achieved it in less games than it took Torres, Suarez and Fowler. That’s some list of players and the biggest tribute you can pay Mo is that he absolutely belongs in that company.

“Even though it was a significant goal for him personally, the best thing about Mo is that it would have been the result that mattered so much more to him on the evening. You could see that in his celebration. Like all of us he knew what an important goal that was for the club and our ambition of winning the game and going back to the top of the table.

“I’m not naive enough to ignore the fact that for goalscorers and strikers the numbers do matter – in the same way our ‘keeper and defenders will take pride in clean sheets and Robbo and Trent do in assists this season. But if anyone on the outside thinks a single player in our dressing room is more interested in personal achievements over the team’s they are massively mistaken.