Former Liverpool forward Michael Owen has stated that Mohamed Salah’s selfish nature will not really affect Sadio Mane’s performances in the near future.
The Reds have made a fascinating start to the new Premier League campaign as they sit at the summit of the table being the only team that still has a 100 percent record after four games. Jurgen Klopp’s side has already managed to secure the UEFA Super Cup against Chelsea and everything seems to be going well for Liverpool.
However, during last week’s 3-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor, Klopp had a bit of a situation to deal with as his two star forwards clashed with each other. Egyptian superstar Mohamed Salah refused to play a simple pass to his African club-mate Sadio Mane and the Senegalese international was furious after coming off the pitch.
Mane seemed quite animated on the bench as his teammates tried to calm him down but Klopp later confirmed that the 26-year-old was angry at his teammate for not passing the ball in a goalscoring position.
But former Liverpool striker Michael Owen has claimed that this feud between the two players is in the past and the players will move on from it as well. The 39 year-old Owen spoke to ESPN and said, “When you look at Liverpool’s front three, you have Roberto Firmino, who is probably the most unselfish player in the world — he would lay on anything — so would be a dream to play with. At the other end of the spectrum, you have Mo Salah, who is just focused on scoring and wanting to be the goalscorer. Then you have Sadio Mane, who sits in between — the likes scoring and is selfish when he needs to be — but he’s also quite generous in his passing. I think you have a great balance there, but it just boiled over the other day. I was doing the [Burnley-Liverpool] game for television and I said at the time, ‘Have you seen that? There are a couple of times he [Salah] should have been passing. Of course, it all blew up and I saw it coming in many ways. These problems happen all the time and it’s Jurgen Klopp’s job to smooth them over. But I do think that, as a striker, there is a balance in everything. I don’t think it will be a problem that will last. Next time Salah gets the ball, he will probably be more conscious that he has to pass sometimes if there is a better opportunity.”
