Jurgen Klopp believes the chance to win a third Premier League Golden Boot this season has become a priority for Mohamed Salah, with the Liverpool boss calling the forward a “natural goalscorer”.
Klopp also explained that players like Salah “have to be selfish”, a term that both Gary Neville and Arsene Wenger have previously used to describe Salah.
Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Leeds, Klopp was asked about the potential of Salah winning a third Golden Boot and he replied: “Yes, of course. A football player has 15 years, maybe 17 or 18 in some cases, in their career.
“It is a time in your life when you are at your physical best and you want to squeeze everything you can out of your career. Most of the players never win the Golden Boot.
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“If you win it once it is a big achievement. If you win it twice it is a really big achievement, if you can win it a third time, there are not many players who have won it three times.
“Strikers have to be selfish. I have never met an unselfish striker. You can be the nicest person in the world but in the end you want to score goals and that means you do not see players in the same shirt.
“He [Salah] is just a natural goalscorer, he wants to score goals. That is something he has developed later in his career. That is what world-class players do [score season after season]. Knowing your own quality helps you get back on track quicker than others.”
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Earlier on this season, Neville labelled Salah “selfish” after he robbed his team-mate Diogo Jota of a goalscoring opportunity against Leeds.
Neville did concede that it is one of Salah’s “great strengths”, telling Sky Sports: “That is the selfish part of his game. He’s thought, ‘You’re not having a goal already’ and taken it off of him. It was Jota’s ball.
“His greed is one of his great strengths but he should have left it for his mate. He was never going to get there. He [Jota] would have had a goal if it wasn’t for Salah. You can’t do that. As great a player as he is, he knows that’s not a great look.”
Former Arsenal boss Wenger has previously described Salah as “a bit obsessed with finishing himself”, telling beIN Sports: “He has similarities with Messi.
“He must find the consistency of Messi. I find he’s a good finisher but Messi has the complete thing, he gives the final ball as well.
“Salah is a bit obsessed with finishing himself. That’s a dimension he’ll get certainly, when he grows a little bit older, to find the moment when you have to give the ball and when you have to finish. But I like him very much, he has huge potential. Mane as well.”
