Klopp compares 'goalscoring machine' Salah to Lewandowski

Klopp compared Salah’s development at Liverpool to that of Lewandowski’s when he was the Pole’s manager at Borussia Dortmund.

Jurgen Klopp rates Mohamed Salah and Robert Lewandowski as two of his greatest signings and compared their respective developments under him.

Salah scored on his 200th appearance for Liverpool in Thursday’s 4-2 win over Manchester United. The Egyptian has now bagged 124 goals and 46 assists since his €42 million arrival from Roma in 2017.

He is also tied with Tottenham’s Harry Kane on a league-high of 21 goals in his bid for a third Golden Boot award in the Premier League.

“Top – absolutely top,” said Klopp on Goal when asked where Salah ranks amongst his greatest ever signings.

“But it is not about signing. You can sign a player but then we all are responsible, so the player obviously is as well and the coaches, to make it happen.”

Klopp was the one who brought Lewandowski over to the Bundesliga in 2010 from Polish club Lech Poznan for Borussia Dortmund.

Things didn’t go to plan initially for the striker, having spent most of his debut campaign playing second-fiddle to Lucas Barrios. But he eventually got his big break at Dortmund and began smashing home the goals.

“Let me say it like this: two players, there’s Robert Lewandowski, who I signed for a different amount of money years ago – well, not years ago, but it feels like – who had an incredible development from a different level, but an incredible development,” continued the Liverpool boss.

“With Mo, [to go] from the guy who scores from time to time and is a really good football player to this goalscoring machine is a massive development.

“He is an outstanding signing, but for sure the way he developed, the way he treats himself, the game preparation, the training preparation, training attitude and all these kind of things, that’s exceptional.

“That’s a real role model and he deserves all that, absolutely.”