# Mohamed Salah Adapts to New Role as Jurgen Klopp Praises “World Class” Liverpool Star
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has praised star forward Mohamed Salah for his ability to adapt to a new role, partly driven by the signing of Darwin Nunez. Despite keeping up his typically prolific goalscoring numbers, the Egyptian has also started to emerge as a creative force for the Reds, evidenced by the four assists he has clocked up in the Premier League and a team-leading tally of 3.3 expected assists in all competitions.
Klopp spoke highly of Salah’s ability to adapt to different roles in his press conference ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Nottingham Forest. He said: “The young Mo was a super fast player who could go in behind and play that role together with [Edin] Dzeko; Dzeko controlled the ball or deflected it and Mo was there. Here, from the first day he had to do different things, he adapted extremely well but the playmaker in that front role was probably more Bobby setting things up.”
Klopp went on to reject suggestions that Salah’s changing role has anything to do with him passing the age of 30, insisting the winger still has the body of a much younger player. He continued: “Off the pitch he behaves like a grown man, besides that he’s still a young player! He’s top fit, I think if we would scan him, the majority of the bones are probably 19 or 20 because he just keeps himself in such top shape. It’s game understanding, that’s what we try to give young players. They all know an awful lot about football when they finish their career at 35 but, the earlier you can get this information, the more useful it is. With Mo that’s clear, he understands the spaces, he knows how players react on him, and then if he cannot score he can still be a threat for us. That’s super important.”
Klopp highlighted Salah’s performance against Everton as an example of how his new role can benefit the team even when he is not scoring goals. He said: “The Everton game will not go down in history performance-wise but then scoring two goals is massive. In other games, playing much better but not scoring but being constantly a threat is for us as important because that really opens up spaces for all the other boys.”
It is clear that Klopp has great faith in Salah and his ability to adapt to new roles and situations. The Egyptian has been a key player for Liverpool since joining in 2017 and it looks like he will continue to be so for some time yet. His adaptability and skill make him one of the most dangerous players in the Premier League and it is no surprise that Klopp is so full of praise for him.