Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah still trails Thierry Henry in the list of all-time Premier League greats despite breaking a competition record jointly held by the Arsenal icon, Emile Heskey has claimed.
Salah has now officially posted the greatest 38-game Premier League season of all time, registering his 45th goal contribution of the top-flight campaign in Sunday's 2-1 victory over West Ham United.
The Egypt international produced a sublime assist to set up Luis Diaz for the game's opening goal, thereby breaking the record for the most direct goal involvements in a 38-game Premier League season, which he previously shared with Henry and Erling Haaland.
However, despite his ties to Liverpool, Heskey has exclusively told Sports Mole that Henry remains his Premier League GOAT, saying: "There would be all sorts of arguments with that, wouldn't there?
"If you're talking numbers, then yes. If you're talking aesthetically and what we see as great players and what we appreciate as great players, possibly not. I know they put him with Thierry Henry, but for me, Thierry Henry is still ahead of him, even though he's not scored as many goals or in the frequency that he manages to do.
Why Henry remains ahead of Salah in Heskey's eyes
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"But you're talking about someone who encapsulates a game, he's always a threat and everyone's scared of him. You can have the argument that he's not this player or that player. But when you're talking about numbers, you can't hide the fact that his numbers are incredible."
Arsenal's all-time top scorer Henry is frequently brought up in debates over who is the greatest player to ever grace the Premier League, but Salah is more than making his case to either rival or overtake the Frenchman in that regard.
The former Chelsea and Roma man surpassed Henry in the all-time Premier League scoring charts earlier this season - now sitting on 184 strikes compared to 175 for the Arsenal legend - and he also has 13 more assists than the Frenchman in the competition (87 to 74).
After ending speculation over his future by signing a new two-year deal at Anfield, Salah is on track to finish his Liverpool career as the second-highest Premier League scorer of all time, and he will surely soon match Henry's record of two Premier League title wins.
However, when asked whether a player's statistics or their playing style was more important to him, Heskey talked up the importance of footballers being entertainers a la prime Ronaldinho, responding: "I'm saying the way that he plays.
Heskey highlights Ronaldinho influence amid Salah-Henry debate
© Imago
"I'm the one that looks at what they bring to me. And that's for me when I see someone, for argument's sake, we say the seasons that Ronaldinho was unbelievable at Barcelona. That's the sort of stuff I like to see.
"It brings joy to your life when you're watching them sort of games. Don't get me wrong, scoring goals, we talk about Mo having bad seasons, but he's still scoring more than 20 goals a season.
"We talk about how he's not had a great season, not had a great game, blah, blah, blah, he's still scored two goals and he's assisted. But I look at a game and say, what has their involvement been? And what enjoyment has he brought to me?"
After Salah's record-breaking assist, West Ham deservedly levelled Sunday's tie through an Andy Robertson own goal, but Virgil van Dijk - who got caught in a mix-up with the Scotsman for the Irons' equaliser - quickly made amends with the winning header.
Arne Slot's side are now 13 points clear of Arsenal at the top of the table with just six games left to play, meaning that they need just two more victories to be crowned champions.
Emile Heskey was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of BetVictor.
Ben Knapton
