'It's all good having an opinion': Former PL manager baffled after hearing what's been said about Mo Salah
Today at 03:50 PM
Defining what a world-class player is has always been one of those ongoing arguments in football that seems to have a never-ending story.
Over the years, there's been broad agreement on players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo being at the very top of the game, while others have been mentioned as well.
Of course, with Liverpool, it's hard to look past Mohamed Salah when you think of the genuine world-class talents in the ranks.
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Salah has been sensational over a consistent period of time and at £34m, is one of the Reds' all-time best buys.
However, in a bizarre moment on TalkSPORT yesterday, Troy Deeney claimed that Salah was not world-class and that instead, he'd tell his kids to look at Vinicius Junior instead.
Naturally, this has sparked quite the debate.
What Troy Deeney said about Mo Salah not being world-class
"My argument has always been that I just don't think he's world-class," Deeney said.
"But world-class is just a different opinion, what I think of world-class is would I want my kids to play like that player? That's what I think is world-class.
"If I was asking my kids who want to be forwards, I would be saying I would like them to look at what Vinicius Jr does as opposed to Mohamed Salah."
Liverpool fans, of course, will find Deeney's comments laughable and one man who agrees is former West Ham and Charlton boss, Alan Pardew.
Alan Pardew baffled by Troy Deeney's Mo Salah comments
Replying to the comments from Deeney on TalkSPORT himself, Pardew suggested that Deeney's argument fell foul due to a lack of stats and facts.
"Yes. The numbers. If you have to look at his numbers, you would have to say he is," Pardew said.
"When you look at the international team that he is playing for, unfortunately, a little bit like Ian Rush when he was at Wales, hasn't really got the platform to do at world level with his country. It's all good having an opinion, but if you are going to have an opinion, back it up with some stats or some facts or some kind of foundation.
"I don't know where Troy is coming from with a foundation because Vinicius (Junior) obviously has got more tricks. He's a little bit more flamboyant, maybe that's what he was aiming his conversation at.
"Mo is no thrills. There's no frills. It's efficiency that he's about."
Clearly, then, Deeney has had a stinker here and he's either said it to be controversial, or simply to annoy the Anfield faithful.
One thing is for sure, though, and that's that Mo Salah is very much a world-class player and there's little else he can do to prove it.
