Thierry Henry snubs Mohamed Salah when naming Liverpool's 'most important player' this season

Liverpool are on course to win the Premier League title, with Mohamed Salah a key reason behind this historic success story.

The Egyptian international has been nothing short of extraordinary for the Reds, with Salah this weekend making Premier League history after breaking the record for the most goal contributions in a single season with 45 combined goals and assists, with six games left to play.

With Rio Ferdinand backing Salah to beat Thierry Henry’s record of scoring and assisting 20+ goals in the Premier League, a real argument can be made that the winger will end the year with the greatest individual season in league history.

Yet Henry himself has now named who he thinks has been Liverpool’s most important player this season, and it’s not Salah.

READ MORE: Alan Shearer predicts if Mohamed Salah will go on to break his all-time Premier League scoring record for Liverpool

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Virgil van Dijk named Liverpool’s most important player over Mohamed Salah

Speaking on Monday Night Football, the Premier League legend hailed Virgil van Dijk as the Anfield side’s most important player, with Henry lauding the defender as ‘the foundation’ of Liverpool’s success this season.

Henry said when talking about Van Dijk’s impact at Liverpool this season: “This is why I keep on saying this is the most important player to sign. You have guys that are maybe way better technically, but this is like the foundation of your club.

“You saw it, he just went into a mood of: ‘I want to score.’ Who can do that? He said: ‘I want to score’, and he went to score. You don’t have that often. For example, if he was in that back four of Nottingham Forest, the coach doesn’t have to get up, he will sort it out.

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“Yes, he will get caught out sometimes, and we saw it, but more often than not, he will stop a counter with his mouth. He doesn’t have to defend, he’s very clever. I said, he’s the most important player at Liverpool. Then you have the most valuable player is Mo Salah, he’s [Van Dijk] the most important.”

Liverpool would be worse off without Virgil van Dijk this season

Whilst Salah’s antics have stolen the headlines this season, Van Dijk’s assured presence at the back and return to form has arguably been just as important for the Reds in their quest to win the Premier League title.

Although Van Dijk was criticised for his latest Liverpool performance against West Ham, there’s no denying that the Dutch international has been huge for the Anfield side this season alongside Ibrahima Konate.

With Van Dijk set to sign a new Liverpool contract, Slot has the perfect player to build his team around heading into the summer, with the 33-year-old showing no sign of slowing down just yet with the pending Premier League champions.

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