If there were any lingering questions about Mohmed Salah's commitment to Liverpool after penning the most lucrative contract in the club's history last summer, then they were emphatically answered over the course of the 2022/23 campaign.
In his sixth season at Anfield, the Egyptian, as he has done since his arrival from AS Roma in 2017, was a rare source of hope for Kopities in a campaign that ended with Liverpool's worst Premier League finish since 2016.
Fresh from his long-standing contract stand-off, which became a subplot to the Reds' pursuit of Premier League and Champions League glory in 2022, Salah low-key enjoyed one of his most devastating campaigns as he tallied another 30-goal season at Anfield.
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Any long-standing effects of the Champions League defeat in Paris seemed to be forgotten as Salah delivered an early statement of intent against Manchester City in late July as he provided a goal and an assist to help Liverpool end their 16-year wait for a Community Shield with victory at the King Power Stadium.
As events in L4 unravelled in the following months, however, it became clear that the forward and his team-mates had in fact produced the first of many false dawns as their Premier League campaign began with just four wins from their first 10 outings. And while it soon became apparent that there were a whole host of underlying issues for Jurgen Klopp to address, chiefly in midfield, the departure of Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich saw the side enter a period of transition as Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez begin their first full campaigns on Merseyside.
During a worrisome first half of the campaign, as the Reds suffered defeats to Manchester United, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Leeds United, Salah's measly return of six goals in 17 league games had him and his team-mates looking from the outside in when it came to Arsenal and Man City's fight for the Premier League title.
But as is the case with such ebbs, later came the flows as Salah emerged from the substitutes' bench to record the fastest-ever Champions League hat-trick during the 7-1 thrashing of Rangers just days before he executed the ultimate smash-and-grab mission over City. In November, the forward's two-goal salvo at Tottenham Hotspur handed Liverpool a first Premier League away victory in six months.
Soon after, he was afforded the rare chance to reset during the months of November and December as he headed out to Dubai with the rest of Liverpool's non-World Cup contingent. But despite firing the opening goal on the Reds' return to the Premier League action during the 3-1 victory at Aston Villa on Boxing Day, both the player's and team's fortunes would suffer further before there were any signs of improvement.
That torture came in the form of defeats at Brentford, Brighton - in both the Premier League and FA Cup - and Wolverhampton Wanderers. And a run of just one goal in 360 minutes of league action during that spell represented the lowest point of a chastening season for Klopp's men.
Though with his eyes fixated on inscribing his name into the Anfield record books once more, a run of 11 goals in his final 15 Premier League games saw Salah leapfrog Robbie Fowler and Steven Gerrard in the club's all-time scoring charts, while a brace in the historic 7-0 thrashing of Manchester United confirmed his status as Liverpool's most prolific scorer of the Premier League era.
But despite blazing his penalty off target during the defeat at Bournemouth just six days later, the mauling of Erik Ten Hag's side still proved to be a catalyst for Liverpool in the long run and coincided with Salah becoming the first player in the club's history to find the back of the net in eight consecutive home games.
And when the Reds somehow returned from the abyss to only narrowly miss out on qualification to the Champions League after a flawless 11-match unbeaten run in the final weeks of the season, Salah, after his most testing of campaigns at Anfield, returned to a position of royalty as he formed part of a slick, new-look front three alongside Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz.
Of course, the pains of a trophyless season will cut deep for the Egypt captain, who has morphed into a serial winner during his time on Merseyside, but, fresh from enjoying his fourth 30-goal campaign with the club, Salah will be as ready as they come when Liverpool plot a return to the Champions League next time around.
Season rating: 8
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