Exclusive: Kenny Dalglish on Salah’s Legacy and Slot Overtaking Klopp

Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish believes Mohamed Salah will look back on his career at The Reds with pride and satisfaction.

The 32-year-old has scored over 230 goals for Liverpool since he moved to Anfield in 2017 from Rome. The talismanic forward ranks fourth on Liverpool’s all time goal-scorers list, with Dalglish down in eighth with 172 strikes in 364 matches for the club.

With Salah rumoured to be in his last year at Liverpool, Dalglish said the Egyptian sensation can look back at his time with Liverpool with pride.

“It’s been a fantastic career, and he’s made a great contribution to Liverpool Football Club. Everybody is happy with the contribution he’s made, and he’ll be happy himself,” Dalglish told SportsBoom.com in an exclusive interview.

“At this moment in time he's a Liverpool footballer. He's playing in the first eleven, he's made contributions. And he’s made positive contributions [too]. So, whatever happens, happens. But there's no one who can take away from the fact that he's had a great career at Liverpool.”

No reason Arne Slot can’t be as good as Jurgen Klopp

With Jurgen Klopp’s departure at the helm of Liverpool Football Club at the end of last season, it left a massive void to fill. New coach Arne Slot, however, has made an incredible start to his career in charge of the Merseyside club.

After 18 games in the Premier League, Liverpool top the table on 45 points with 14 wins. The Pep Guardiola-led Manchester City are 14 points behind, as they seek their fifth title in a row.

Liverpool have also won six from six to begin their UEFA Champions League campaign to top the new-format 36-team table.

“No, it's a good start. Arne’s done very well. He's only lost one league game,” Dalglish told SportsBoom.com.

“So, he's come in and he's been very much himself. And for someone to take over from Jurgen Klopp and do as well as he has done, speaks volumes.”

“He's a totally different personality to what Jurgen was. And as you can see, there’s no reason to say he can’t be as good as Jurgen.”

“So, it's a great start. He's got a good squad of players probably most of them brought there by Jurgen.”

Manchester City still lurking?

While it’s indeed been a great start for Liverpool this season, Dalglish insisted that City could never be written off.

“They're always going to be there, that’s the thing about City. They've been through a bad spell at the minute, got a couple of injuries.”

“Arsenal had a few injuries as well. I wouldn't underestimate them. I don't think Liverpool would ever underestimate them.”

“They've got great respect for them. What they’ve achieved there … they’ll make the rest of the clubs very jealous because they'd much rather have the success they had”

“At the end of the day, you've got to do what you have to do. You have to play whoever is in front of you and get as many points and results as you can.”

Highlight of Dalglish career was signing for Liverpool

Though Dalglish signed for Liverpool in 1977 and enjoyed 13 years with the club up until his retirement, he said the highlight of his career was when he first joined The Reds. That also included his spell as a player-manager of Liverpool from 1985 to 1991.

“Just signing for them [was the highlight]. I had a fantastic start to my professional career at Celtic Football Club. And the way we were looked after there, as 17-year-old boys, was fantastic.”

“And if it hadn't been for Celtic Football Club, I wouldn't have been progressing anywhere. No, I've been very fortunate. I played in the two most successful teams in Scottish football.”