(Reuters) – Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said he hopes forward Mohamed Salah will soon rediscover his best goalscoring form following a slow start to his Premier League campaign.
Salah, who scored 23 league goals for Liverpool last season to share the Premier League golden boot with Son Heung-min, has failed to reach the heights he did in the previous campaign, having netted just two league goals.
Klopp said the Egyptian’s poor form was not down to a lack of desire, adding that it was unfair to compare him to Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, who scored his 15th league goal of the season on Saturday.
“I think with Mo (Salah) it’s like with us, I hope we are close to exploding (with goals)” Klopp told reporters ahead of Liverpool’s league trip to Arsenal. “Is it his season so far? No, like for all of us.
“Nobody in the world can cope with the (Erling) Haaland situation in the moment, it’s crazy what he’s doing. He’s an exceptional player in an exceptional team … and I don’t think we should compare now in this moment anybody with that.
“(Salah) wants to score goals, definitely. Desperately, 100 per cent. That will never change. If you call him in 20 years, it will be the same.”
Liverpool are 10th in the Premier League on 10 points after seven games. They play away to league leaders Arsenal on Sunday.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
