All of a Real Madrid persuasion were incensed when Vinicius Junior didn’t win the Men’s Ballon d’Or this year, but Liverpool have been frustrated by Mohamed Salah‘s glut of snubs across various awards and accolades.
Anfield star Salah is one of the finest forwards of his generation, having posted 221 goals and 99 assists across 361 appearances for Liverpool, winning a wealth of silverware.
Premier League: All-time Top Scorers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Rank | Player | Apps | Goals (per game) |
1. | Alan Shearer | 441 | 260 (0.59) |
2. | Harry Kane | 320 | 213 (0.67) |
3. | Wayne Rooney | 491 | 208 (0.42) |
4. | Andy Cole | 414 | 187 (0.45) |
5. | Sergio Aguero | 275 | 184 (0.67) |
6. | Frank Lampard | 609 | 177 (0.29) |
7. | Thierry Henry | 258 | 175 (0.68) |
8. | Mohamed Salah | 274 | 165 (0.60) |
9. | Robbie Fowler | 379 | 163 (0.43) |
10. | Jermaine Defoe | 496 | 162 (0.33) |
Stats via Premier League | |||
Salah’s not the only high-class forward across Europe, though, and though he’s on fire this season, with 20 goal contributions from 17 fixtures, the 32-year-old will face some fierce competition for that Ballon d’Or prize.
The aforementioned Vinicius Jr. will be determined to get his hands on the golden ball, having come so close to winning it this year.
There are, of course, others. Kylian Mbappe has suffered a middling start to life at Los Blancos, but he’s still one of the finest players in the world.
Harry Kane will hope to cement his legacy with the individual pinnacle honour, having scored 61 goals and supplied 21 assists from 61 matches since joining Bayern Munich from Tottenham Hotspur in August 2023.
This one would shatter records, but Lamine Yamal‘s influence at Barcelona cannot be discredited. The 17-year-old is the very encapsulation of a ‘prodigy’, winning Euro 2024 with Spain this summer and starring as the fuel of Barcelona’s title charge in La Liga.
Kane and Yamal, among others, are pretty impressive, but Salah will fancy himself if he keeps up his current rate of performance.
The Egyptian has been mesmerising for Liverpool since signing, far outstripping any of the forwards (bar Luis Suarez, of course) that pushed for success before Jurgen Klopp took over at Anfield.
Iago Aspas is one, though the veteran forward is still kicking around today – and even outperforming Salah’s rivals, Yamal and Kane, in one attacking metric.
Where Iago Aspas is outperforming Kane & Yamal
Aspas didn’t exactly have the most memorable of stints on Merseyside. Liverpool signed the Spaniard from Celta Vigo for a £9m fee in 2013, but he failed to establish himself.
Indeed, the now-37-year-old started five Premier League matches that year, usually watching from the sideline as Suarez made a mockery of his opponents. It was no surprise nor disappointment when he left on loan to Sevilla the following summer. It simply hadn’t worked out.
Move forward one term again, and Aspas has completed a permanent transfer back to Celta Vigo, for a figure believed to be worth about £4m. Now, he’s a true icon of Spanish football, with 159 goals and 68 assists to his name in La Liga.
Even today, with the dynamic forward in the twilight of his footballing career, he’s still putting out some remarkable metrics.
As per FBref, Aspas ranks among the top 8% of positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for assists, the top 1% for passes attempted and progressive passes and the top 2% for shot-creating actions per 90.
A pass is considered progressive if the distance between the starting point and the next touch is at least 10 meters closer to the opponent’s goal or any completed pass into the penalty area.
Insane. There’s longevity and then there’s longevity. Kudos to him, especially so when considering that one area of his playmaking – through balls – sees him sit above the likes of Kane and Yamal, as you can see from the graph just below.
Kane and Yamal both rank highly among the most through balls placed across Europe’s top five leagues this season, but neither quite match Aspas, who’s still producing some fine football for his devoted club.
Fair play to him, though since Liverpool rose so high in the years beyond his short stay, with Salah serving as talisman, it’s not a flop of a transfer that’s met with all that much ruefulness, truth be told.
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