Mohamed Salah undisputedly has a greater Premier League legacy than Cristiano Ronaldo, Reds expert David Lynch has argued.
The Egyptian looks certain to lead the Merseysiders to a second league title given his side are 12 points ahead of second-placed Arsenal.
Salah has enjoyed a remarkable 2024-25 campaign on a personal basis, scoring 27 goals and registering 17 assists in just 29 games, and needs just four more assists to break Thierry Henry's record.
Despite his success, some rival fans and pundits have argued that Ronaldo deserves to be in an all-time Premier League XI ahead of the Egyptian, but Lynch suggested otherwise, telling Sports Mole: "I would never attempt to do down [Ronaldo's] legacy in any way but if we are talking about Premier League legacy, Mohamed Salah is greater.
"The only thing you could have held against Salah at any point in this debate was how many Premier League titles has he won - that's the question in terms of his greatness overall - but he's obviously going to get a second now which is as many as Thierry Henry, who I don't think anybody would have any problems putting in that all-time XI.
"Mohamed Salah is the greatest right-winger in Premier League history - I don't think there's a debate there whereas you could have the debate about an all-time XI across all leagues. Obviously if Salah went to La Liga now he wouldn't touch Ronaldo's legacy there, but in terms of purely the Premier League, Salah has scored more goals, he's been here longer and just been a better player."
Ronaldo won three Premier League titles during his time at Manchester United, though it should be noted that Salah missed out on an additional two titles by just a point in 2018-19 and 2021-22.
Salah and Ronaldo: What the stats say
During his time in English football, Ronaldo managed to score 103 goals in 236 top-flight appearances for the Red Devils, while also registering 37 assists.
In 292 Premier League appearances, Salah has found the back of the net 184 times and produced 86 assists, and he currently ranks as the competition's joint fifth-highest goalscorer of all time.
Speaking to Sports Mole, Lynch was keen to highlight that fans have seen Salah at his peak in England while Ronaldo's best came during his time with Real Madrid, saying: "We were fortunate enough to have Cristiano Ronaldo in this league for a long time but it was nearer the start of his career when he wasn't that goal-scoring machine.
"He was a fabulous player for Manchester United and a massive part of the many titles that he won there but [he was] not anywhere near his peak that he ended up reaching at Real Madrid, whereas we've seen the best of Mohamed Salah in the Premier League. You can look at the numbers - Cristiano Ronaldo only had one season where he went above 20 Premier League goals for Manchester United whereas Mohamed Salah has had five.
"In terms of the Premier League legacy, I don't think there's a question. We've seen the best of Mohamed Salah in this league, we didn't see that with Cristiano Ronaldo, and if you're picking someone on that right hand side [in an all-time XI] it has to be Salah."
Ronaldo managed to score 31 goals and provide six assists in the league 2007-08, a campaign in which he won the Ballon d'Or, but Salah scored 32 times and produced 10 assists in his debut top-flight season for Liverpool in 2017-18.
© Imago
Does Salah get disrespected?
Despite Salah's immense contribution to the Reds' triumphs in the Premier League and Champions League, the winger is still often drawn into debates with forwards such as Eden Hazard, who scored 85 goals in 245 top-flight games for Chelsea.
Many Liverpool supporters feel that the Egyptian is not given the credit he deserves, with a perception existing that his achievements are frequently questioned or undermined by opposition fans.
Lynch expressed his view that Salah would be held in higher regard if he had won more at Anfield when he told Sports Mole: "A lot of it comes down to the fact that he hasn't won as much as he should have, which is absolutely nothing to do with him. Liverpool missed out on two Premier League titles by a point which is very unfortunate in terms of what that's done to his legacy, losing in two Champions League finals.
"We shouldn't allow team honours to cloud the debate around him. He is one of the greatest and people try and bring in other elements [to discredit him]. He scores against all the big teams, he's the highest goal scorer against Manchester United of all time - he's got all these things behind him. He scores in every game and the only thing you could say is he hasn't got enough winners medals.
"If he could add another [title] next season, one more Champions League title before he leaves Liverpool, maybe that will solidify him in people's minds but let's be honest, a lot of it is down to rival supporters trying to do down legends of each other's clubs. We see a lot of nonsense on social media and a lot of it's best disregarded."
Salah is set to leave the club for free at the end of the season, but he has repeatedly spoken of his desire to stay at Liverpool, so perhaps he will have the opportunity to further cement his legacy as an all-time great in the Premier League.
Lewis Nolan
