Darren Bent has admitted he’d rather have Mo Salah in his team over Kevin De Bruyne.
The Liverpool star has become recognised as one of the best players in the world ever since joining the club from Roma in 2017 and became the highest scoring African in Premier League history this season.
Although De Bruyne is also a world-class player in his own right and helped Manchester City complete an historic treble this term Bent has explained why he’d prefer to instead have our No. 11 on the pitch.
“You look at Mo Salah, De Bruyne, Lukakau, these three guys were at Chelsea, they left and went on to become superstars of world football,” the former England said on talkSPORT (via Rousing The Kop).
“Take Lukaku out, out of the two who are left, who’s the bigger player? De Bruyne?” host Andy Goldstein questioned.
“Oh no, I’m going Salah probably,” Bent replied.
“Are you?! Who would you rather have, you’d have De Bruyne over Salah?” Goldstein hit back.
“I don’t know, Salah wins games on his own. I love De Bruyne, I’m not disrespecting him,” Bent said. “Some people can say De Bruyne, I’ve got no problem with that, but I don’t think it’s as definitive as people saying, ‘what a question, it’s definitely De Bruyne.’
“It’s down to opinion. If someone said ‘De Bruyne all day,’ I wouldn’t say ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about ‘ because he’s a great player. But Salah, the goals that he’s scored…”
It’s hard to compare both players due to the fact that they operate in very different positions – Salah is a goalscorer while De Bruyne is in the team to create chances and help those around him thrive.
The City star may have won more trophies since leaving Chelsea but that’s not a fair point to make if we’re discussing the players as individuals.
The impact the Egyptian King had on Klopp’s side upon his return to the Premier League really was incredible and he’s one of the main reasons why we’ve picked up every major trophy possible under our German tactician.
Last season when the former Fiorentina star was named PFA Players’ Player of the Year award the former Borussia Dortmund boss labelled his star man as a ‘finishing monster’ and a ‘workhorse’ (as quoted by BBC).
Even last season when we were struggling for consistency the 31-year-old still managed to net 30 goals and register 16 assists in 51 appearances (across all competitions).
We agree with Bent and reckon Mo just about comes out on top but it’s all a matter of opinion, we suppose.