Liverpool cannot rely on Mohamed Salah repeating brilliant 44-goal debut season

He is back with a bang and looks like he’s never been away – but Milner claims Liverpool cannot just assume Mohamed Salah will keep scoring so many goals

Salah took just a minute to mark his introduction to pre-season on Wednesday night, scoring in the friendly win over Manchester City in New Jersey to leave fans dreaming of another fantastic campaign from their Egyptian star.

He bagged 44 goals last season and was named double Player of the Year as he nearly carried Liverpool to Champions League glory, and Milner knows the pressure will be on him to repeat that phenomenal debut campaign on Merseyside.

The wily midfielder has seen it all as he embarks on his 17th Premier League season and says the other Reds players must help Salah by taking some of the burden off his shoulders.

He claims they must improve as a team to weigh in with their fair share of goals and assists.

“Obviously there is pressure when you’ve had one good year to deliver again,” said the former England international.

“He’s a top player, he’s shown that and he’s going to keep improving. We need to keep improving as a side with him as well and make sure that all the pressure is not on his shoulders to deliver goals and get us out of tough situations.

“It’s down to all of us to help him be the best player he can be and do that as part of a team.”

Milner is confident Salah can repeat his goal-scoring feats from last season and prove he is world class.

“The best players in the world aren’t known because they just did it in one season, they do it over and over again,” he said. “He’s more than capable of doing that.

“There is pressure when you have had one good year to deliver again, but he is a top player. He’s going to keep on improving.”

The inevitable transfer speculation surrounded Salah as he blazed a goal trail through the Premier League and Europe — but Liverpool snuffed it out when they announced the 26-year-old had agreed a new five-year deal at the start of the month, which has no escape clause.

Milner was always relaxed about Salah’s future, and sees no reason why he would want to leave Anfield.

“Yeah, it was good for the club, but I was never worried,” he said. “There’s always going to be stories when players do well. You saw how well he played last season, improving, and he seems happy so I don’t see any reason he’d want to go.”

Milner sees the good side of the speculation linking Salah with a big move.

“That’s what happens when you have good players,” he said. “That’s a positive thing for us that when there’s speculation about your players, it means they are playing well and performing – and he obviously has.

“You’ve seen what him and Sadio Mane brought when they came on against Manchester City (in Wednesday’s US friendly). They made a big contribution.”