African All-Star of August – Mohamed Salah

There’s an old saying that nothing is certain except death, taxes and Mohamed Salah scoring goals in August.

Salah started the season showing a new look with a new shorn hairstyle, but it was the same old Egyptian King who has been terrorizing Premier League defences for the last seven years.

In what is his first season under a Liverpool manager that isn’t Jurgen Klopp, many wondered exactly how Salah would fit into Arne Slot’s system and how his role would change with the Dutchman’s tactics.

Early signs suggest that his role won’t change much with Salah still being a key point in so many of Liverpool’s attack.

His first goal contribution of the season came in the form of an assist on the opening weekend of the season against newly-promoted Ipswich. It was a situation where he had a clear sight of goal himself, but he calmly rolled it to Diogo Jota instead who slotted it home from an easier position.

Salah’s increase in assists has been noticeable in the last few seasons for a player who has been accused of being slightly too selfish with chances in the past.

He’s hit double figures in that department for the last three Premier League seasons, which is impressive when you consider how he’s had to adjust ever since the famous attacking trio of himself, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino got broken up.

After setting up the opener against Ipswich, he only had to wait five minutes before he opened his own scoring account with a quick poacher’s effort.

That goal was his ninth opening-weekend goal in the Premier League which is a new record. Ipswich also became the 28th club that Salah has scored against in the competition.

After scoring that goal, we then saw one African great pay homage to another. Salah brought out a new “bow and arrow” celebration that he says was

inspired by Israel Adesanya who brought out the celebration when he beat Alex Pereira at UFC 287.

After leaving Portman Road with three points, Salah happily returned home to Anfield the next week for the visit of Brentford. He marked the occasion with the second goal in a two-goal win after finding space on the right and finishing with a clinical chipped finish into the side-netting.

It’s a sight the Kop has got used to seeing down the years. That strike was his 93rd league goal at Anfield. When you add in the 35 assists he’s made at the ground as well, that makes it 128 goal contributions in 128 home appearances.

With Erling Haaland’s whirlwind start to his Premier League career at Manchester City and the sheer volume of goals he’s produced, there’s been less focus on Salah’s scoring exploits in the Premier League, which has also coincided with two seasons where Liverpool have been unable to maintain a genuine title challenge for a whole campaign.

Haaland has started the season as clinical as ever and is already leading the golden boot race, but Salah’s own start to the season suggests some extra desire to show off his quality and make sure he’s doing whatever he can to keep the wins coming for Liverpool.

The Egyptian is a clear-cut winner for August’s African player of the month and with the goal and two assists that he picked up on 1 September against Manchester United, he’s already staking a claim to win the next one too.