MAKE no mistake, Mohamed Salah (£8.1m) is carving out a significant chunk of his legacy this season.
After capitalising on Leeds’ leaky defence on Wednesday night, the Egyptian hero has 19 goals and ten assists to his name in the Premier League in 2021/22.
No player has more assists at this stage and his closest rival for the Golden Boot is team-mate Diogo Jota (£5.5m), who is seven goals adrift.
The brilliance of Liverpool’s No11 has not been contained to these shores, he’s also scored eight goals in 556 minutes of Champions League action this term.
Naturally, Salah’s exceptional performances have translated to Dream Team dominance.
At the time of writing, he’s on 272 points and still no other player has reached 200.
Only a significant injury is likely to prevent him from finishing as Dream Team’s outright best performer and his lead is so great it’s about time we turned one eye to the all-time record.
The asset with the most points in a single Dream Team campaign is none other than Cristiano Ronaldo (£7.7m).
Manchester United’s iconic No7 amassed a whopping 477 points in 2007/08 after scoring 42 goals in 49 games.
This record-breaking effort helped the Red Devils win the league and the Champions League – plus, it earned Ronaldo the first of his five Ballons d’Or.
So, does Salah really have a chance of breaking Ronaldo’s Dream Team record?
Liverpool have 12 league fixtures remaining after their meeting with Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final this weekend.
They also have a possible four remaining games in the FA Cup on top of six potential Champions League fixtures.
In theory, Salah has a maximum of 23 point-scoring opportunities left this season.
If the 29-year-old featured in every one, he’d have to average nine points a game to break Ronaldo’s record – he currently averages 8.8 points-per-game.
Simply put, Salah is currently on course to run the Portuguese superstar close.
However, how realistic is it that Liverpool will make it to the finals of both the FA Cup and the Champions League?
It’s certainly not beyond Jurgen Klopp’s impressive crop but it would take an almighty effort.
Plus, history suggests Salah may be rested in the FA Cup anyway, at least until the latter stages.
Let’s say Liverpool reach the final of the cup but Salah doesn’t feature until the semis, and simultaneously they make the last four of the Champions League but are eliminated before the final, that would give Salah 19 fixtures to play with.
In this scenario, he would have to average 10.8 points-per-game – a huge ask by anyone’s standards.
All things considered, it seems likely that Ronaldo’s record is safe as Salah would have to produce an otherworldly run-in to make up the 206 points required to overtake the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
However, the Anfield hero has an excellent chance to become just the second Dream Team asset ever to breach 400 points in a single season – that landmark is an achievable 128 points away.
Just imagine if Salah hadn’t departed for the Africa Cup of Nations midway through the campaign…
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