'Getting better and better': Nigel Reo-Coker blown away by Liverpool player who's ageing 'like Benjamin Button'

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Liverpool have an excellent blend between youth and experience in their current first-team squad.

Having seen the team be reshaped over the past couple of years, the Reds have trimmed away a lot of the older players of Jurgen Klopp’s reign.

If supporters cast their mind back to two seasons ago, the Liverpool squad contained plenty of veterans such as Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Roberto Firmino.

With those players all now gone, younger stars have been brought in to replace them.

Nevertheless, there is still a sprinkling of real experience and know-how in the Liverpool dressing room. In particular, the quartet of Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah boost the average age of the team.

The fact that all four of those players are still vital components of the Liverpool XI tells you everything you need to know. And in Salah’s case, the Reds have a player who is quite possibly confounding biological science.

Mohamed Salah ageing ‘like Benjamin Button’

Salah was in the headlines again for Liverpool on Wednesday night. The Egyptian was the Reds’ match-winner against Bologna.

After Salah set up Alexis Mac Allister with a beautiful assist for the game’s opening goal, he then plundered a brilliant finish himself.

That made it six goals and five assists for the Liverpool forward this season. With that, Salah equalled a 35-year record held by John Barnes.

After the game, Mac Allister praised Salah for the vision he showed when creating the ball which led to his goal.

READ MORE: Arne Slot gives joking response when asked if he’s starting to ‘love’ Mohamed Salah

And speaking on CBS Sports, former Premier League midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker claimed that the 32-year-old is ‘getting better and better’ as he grows older.

“He’s just going from strength to strength,” says Reo-Coker. “For me he’s like Benjamin Button, he seems to be getting better and better with age.

“He really is a big part of this Liverpool side and I can still see him doing the same thing for many more years to come because he puts the effort in, the work in, he’s got the technical ability. It’s great.”

Liverpool can’t ignore Mohamed Salah truth

While it is obviously brilliant that Salah is still as good as ever at 32, it does highlight what a risk Liverpool are taking with his current contract situation.

The main argument against extending Mo’s stay at Anfield is that he is pushing deeper into his thirties. It could be a risk to give such a big contract to an ageing player.

But as Reo-Coker points out, Salah simply isn’t ageing. A drop-off could come quickly and steeply, of course, but it doesn’t feel like that’s going to come anytime soon.

As a result, if Liverpool do let him go, perhaps there’s a chance that Salah will want to stay in Europe rather than effectively retire to Saudi Arabia.

In that scenario, the Reds could really, really come to regret not tying him down when they had the chance. It’s time to put this to bed, because Salah really could go on for years yet.