Mohamed Salah cements his status as a Liverpool legend after another landmark goal in win over Brighton... it would be unthinkable to let him leave for free this summer, writes AADAM PATEL

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It was the kind of strike The Kop has seen so often over the years with Mohamed Salah cutting on to his left-foot and finding the top corner with a sizzling strike that was past the opposition keeper in a flash.

Yet again, the Egyptian won the three points for Liverpool with his 48th match-winning goal in the Premier League - only five players have more.

At 32, Salah may not be the prolific dribbler he once was but he is fitter than ever - in pre-season, he ranked first in Liverpool’s fitness tests - and more capable than ever of providing the big moments.

On the weekend that Liverpool announced themselves as genuine title contenders under Arne Slot, again it was Salah who provided the key moment, a week after scoring the equaliser at Arsenal.

‘Top of the table is where this club belongs. Nothing less,’ was the caption on Salah’s social media posts.

Mo Salah overtook Robbie Fowler in the Premier League goalscoring charts in the 2-1 comeback win over Brighton on Saturday thanks to a sizzling top corner strike

He is fitter than ever, still impacting games profoundly, and pivotal to Liverpool's title bid

Allowing him to leave for Saudi Arabia for free in the summer is an unthinkable prospect

Slot described the goal as a ‘Mohamed Salah special’ on a day that felt like a throwback to the Jurgen Klopp era and was undoubtedly the best Anfield moment under Slot so far.

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Brighton had done well to keep Salah quiet but there was a sense of inevitability when he began to run at Pervis Estupinan, who until then had hardly put a foot wrong.

The numbers are ridiculous. Of Liverpool’s 19 league goals this season, Salah has been involved in 12 (63 per cent) - a higher proportion of a team's goals than any other in the Premier League.

Since making his Liverpool debut in 2017, no one comes close to Salah’s 235 goal contributions in the top-flight, with Harry Kane next on 169. In Europe’s top-five leagues, only Robert Lewandowski and Kylian Mbappe have more. He is a generational great.

With his 164th Premier League goal on Saturday, Salah surpassed the man they called ‘God’ at Anfield in Robbie Fowler (in 106 fewer games) to go eighth on the list of all-time goalscorers and just 11 behind Thierry Henry and 13 behind Frank Lampard. There is every chance that he will be in the top five come the end of the campaign.

‘We shouldn't lose sight how massive they (the records) are. He keeps knocking them down. He'll always be a legend,’ said Joe Gomez.

On Merseyside, Salah has evolved from a 25-year-old to who always knew his potential to a man in his early thirties who knows he will go down undisputedly as one of Liverpool's greats.

With 55 goal involvements since the start of last season, the fact he was snubbed for the Ballon d’Or shortlist has not gone unnoticed either.

For all the talk of a move to Saudi Arabia, Salah is still at his peak and right now, the prospect of Liverpool letting him go for free next summer, when his contract expires, is unthinkable.

He has 55 goal involvements since the start of last season. Should he have been mentioned in the running for the Ballon d'Or?

‘No matter what happens, I will never forget what scoring at Anfield feels like,’ Salah posted on Sunday.

A reminder that his future remains up in the air and a reminder, if it was ever needed, of the joy he has provided.

Last season, Salah scored just three goals in the last 11 games of the Klopp era amid fitness problems after getting injured for Egypt during the Africa Cup of Nations.

There were concerns then but Saturday showed that his raw ability to win matches remains unrivalled and if Slot’s Liverpool are to compete for the title, then a fit and firing Salah will be a central part of that.