The recently departed Liverpool icon represented the very peak of excellence that the Premier League has ever witnessed.

In time, Mohamed Salah will receive the recognition and appreciation that has long been overdue for his extraordinary and unique Premier League journey with Liverpool.

And not just the typical acknowledgments like, “I think Mohamed Salah will go down as one of Liverpool’s best ever players,” or “Mohamed Salah deserves a place in an all-time Premier League XI.”

This is about proper recognition — not merely as one of Liverpool’s greats among a list of names, but as the greatest player ever to have graced England’s top division.

It’s puzzling why Mohamed Salah’s name has so often been left out of conversations about the best-ever Premier League players.

On one side, nostalgia acts like a brick wall, blocking newer players from being included in the debate. On the other, there’s an odd obsession with ‘aesthetics’ that unfairly disqualifies Salah from being mentioned among the elite.

Let’s look at the facts. No player in Premier League history has won as many PFA Players’ Player of the Year awards (three) as Mohamed Salah. No one has claimed more Golden Boots (three) either.

He also holds the record for the most non-penalty goals (31) in a single 38-game Premier League season, and the most goal involvements (47) in another 38-game campaign — both records set in different seasons.

Salah also has the most open-play assists (18) in a single season. Despite being a prolific goal-scorer, he has twice taken home the Playmaker Award — a rare feat for a player of his finishing calibre.

In the entire history of football, only Lionel Messi besides Salah has managed to win both the Golden Boot and the Playmaker Award — for being the league’s top scorer and creator — in the same season, and Salah has done it twice.

Not even Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez, or Neymar achieved that once, making Salah’s accomplishment nearly unimaginable.

No player has contributed more points through goals and assists in a single Premier League season than Mohamed Salah — a season that led Liverpool to their first league title in front of fans after 35 years.

Over his first eight Premier League seasons with Liverpool, Salah averaged 34 goal contributions per campaign. To put that in perspective, only two players — Erling Haaland and Harry Kane — surpassed that number once each during the same period.

Across those eight seasons, where Salah lifted two Premier League titles, two Carabao Cups, an FA Cup, a Super Cup, a Club World Cup (as Player of the Tournament), and guided Liverpool to Champions League triumph, his average top-flight output exceeded the best-ever seasons of England’s most feared strikers.

Statistically, no one comes close to Salah. Thierry Henry’s numbers are the nearest comparison, as he slightly outscored Salah on average, but the Egyptian’s assist record clearly outweighs Henry’s.

Although Henry jointly holds the Premier League assist record, he recorded more than 10 assists in only two of his eight seasons, while Salah did so in six of his eight.

In comparing Salah’s sensational debut 2017/18 season to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Ballon d’Or-winning 2007/08 campaign, the outcomes are surprising. Salah scored more Premier League goals, provided more league assists, netted more Champions League goals, and created more assists in Europe’s top competition.

Both led their teams to the Champions League final, but Salah outperformed Ronaldo in knockout goals and assists during their respective runs.

Interestingly, despite Ronaldo being considered more entertaining and fluid compared to the often-labelled ‘rigid’ Salah, the Portuguese forward completed only ten more dribbles than Salah across both competitions — 126 to 116.

And for those who argue that comparing a ‘midfielder’ Ronaldo to a ‘forward’ Salah is unfair — during that season, Ronaldo scored twice as many goals from inside the six-yard box and took four times as many penalties as Salah.

In fact, during Ronaldo’s peak Premier League years from 2006 to 2009, he averaged nearly six shots per 90 minutes, while Salah has averaged fewer than four per 90 across his Liverpool career.

So, what truly separates that version of Salah from that version of Ronaldo, if not the teams surrounding them?

When statistics fail to discredit Salah, critics often shift the conversation to team trophies. Curiously, that same argument isn’t used against Thierry Henry, who won the same number of Premier League titles as Salah and never led Arsenal to Champions League glory as Salah did with Liverpool.

If one uses team trophies as the ultimate measure of greatness, then logically, Ryan Giggs should be considered the best Premier League player ever — yet no one argues that.

And when that logic fails, fans bring up, “But Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or!” — which is just as weak, because that would make Michael Owen the best Premier League striker ever, a claim few would support. Likewise, suggesting Rodri is greater than Xavi, Iniesta, or Lampard and Gerrard would spark outrage.

Records are meant to be broken, yet many of Mohamed Salah’s achievements may stand the test of time. In the years ahead, fans may begin to wonder why these records remain untouched.

It’s improbable that anyone will match Salah’s three PFA Players’ Player of the Year awards soon — especially when no one managed it in the award’s 60-year history before him.

Just as the NBA renamed its MVP trophy in honour of Michael Jordan — who won five such awards — perhaps it’s only a matter of time before the PFA considers naming their award after Salah.

In the future, when every contender’s name falls short against Salah’s legacy, Premier League fans will finally realise what they once had — and what they lost.

While bidding farewell to the ultimate symbol of Premier League brilliance is bittersweet, it’s also an opportunity to celebrate all that Salah brought to English football.

Those memories will endure forever. And it’s safe to say we’ll continue seeing the name ‘MOHAMED SALAH’ lighting up matchday screens for many years to come.