I was wrong about world beater Salah, admits Arsenal boss Emery

Unai Emery has revealed he was unconvinced by Mohamed Salah’s ability to shine at a big club when he was presented with the chance to sign the Liverpool forward during his time as Paris St Germain boss.

The Gunners head coach will come up against Salah today, with Premier League leaders Liverpool looking to maintain their unbeaten season.

Salah has scored 59 goals in 78 matches across all competitions since moving to Anfield from Roma in summer 2017.

Emery was coach of Ligue 1 champions Paris St Germain at the time and, ahead of Arsenal’s trip to the north-west, the Spaniard admitted he had been unsure of how Salah would cope at a big club.

“We spoke about the possibility to sign Salah to Paris St Germain when he was playing at Roma,” said Emery, who looks set to be without Mesut Ozil today, the German playmaker set to miss out with a knee complaint.

“We had some doubts — and then he signed for Liverpool and these doubts he has broken at Liverpool. Now, if you are speaking about the five top players in the world, one is Salah.”

Asked what the specific doubts were, Emery said: “Can he take the performance into one big team?

“For example like PSG in Paris. And today I can say to you... if we signed him, we signed one player in the top five in the world.”

Emery highlighted the signing of Salah — and the later addition of centre-back Virgil van Dijk — as key moments in Jurgen Klopp’s development of his title challengers.

“I remember three years ago they had a problem in their defensive moments and bought some people — for example van Dijk — with a good investment and the result is we are looking at them today and their progress,” he said.

“They are very strong in defence and also they are improving a lot when they bought Salah and now offensively they are a very big team.

“I think the Premier League is now the best and most important competition in the world for the teams, with Spain, maybe Italy and Germany. But I think here are the best teams and players and now the leader in the table is Liverpool — and it is because they are doing things very well.”

Liverpool have been installed as the new title favourites after Manchester City surprisingly lost back-to-back matches, dropping them to third, seven points adrift.

City, Chelsea, and Arsenal are the only three teams Klopp’s side have not beaten so far this season, with the Gunners the last, on November 3, to take two points off them in the 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal have only recently seen a 14-match unbeaten league run brought to an end and Emery has admitted Liverpool could match the club’s Invincibles feat of 2003-04.

“Was the question for Unai Emery, ‘Do you think Liverpool can go unbeaten?’ Is that a normal answer then?” said a dismissive Klopp.

“That’s not how I know Unai Emery (taking pressure off his team). I don’t think that the white flag has been raised, it will be a tough game [tonight]. They are good and that is all I am interested in.”

Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum insists the players cannot afford to take their eyes off the ball for fear of attracting unwanted attention from Klopp.

Emery

During the St Stephen’s Day’s 4-0 win over Newcastle a roar rang around the ground late in the game when supporters became aware Pep Guardiola’s side were losing at Leicester but the players were oblivious until they returned to the dressing room.

After that game Klopp spoke of needing tunnel vision and Wijnaldum said the players were fully concentrated on what their jobs were and would not be distracted by what the chasing pack were up to.

“When we played Wolves away (the Friday before Christmas) a lot of the players didn’t even know against who City or Tottenham were playing,” said the Holland international.

“We were just focused on our own game and trying to get the most out of that one. That is why it goes so well.

“We are only focused on the things we can control. We can control our own performance. We are only busy with that.

“If you are maybe less focused than normal, then you have a manager in Jurgen who will tell you directly that there is no space for doing less or enjoying things too much. He says keep both feet on the ground.”

Klopp has been able to rotate his midfield without any adverse effect and their unbeaten start to the season — 16 wins and three draws — is testament to that.

Wijnaldum has been present more than most and while he has had to take his turn on the sidelines, he believes keeping everyone fresh will be vital as the games start to tick down.

“Since I have been here we have been quite unlucky with injuries. It goes quite well with rotating,” he said ahead of the visit of Arsenal.

“Everyone is trying to do their best when they play. Let’s hope it works until the end of the season.

“I think everybody wants to play every game, but you play so many games and the way we play with a high intensity sometimes you need a rest.

“It is the manager’s decision. Sometimes it is a decision you don’t like but he knows what is best for the team. Up to now it goes quite well. People get a rest when they need one and the level stays the same (on the pitch). I think that is due to a mixture of things: The coaching, the players’ professionalism in the way we work together and the way we help each other out. We got the results we needed.

“We all want to play but it is not possible to play every game because of the way we play with lots of running, high intensity, then you have to use the squad, especially around this part of the season.”