The Worst "Best Player in the World"? Paul Scholes Calls Out Misfiring Liverpool Star

The Worst "Best Player in the World"? Paul Scholes Calls Out Misfiring Liverpool Star

Never one to keep his opinion to himself, ex-Manchester United and England midfielder has once again divided the Premier League football fanbase with some controversial comments concerning Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah.

Speaking on The Overlap with former teammates Gary Neville and Roy Keane, ex-Arsenal forward Ian Wright and former Manchester City women’s midfielder Jill Scott, Scholes didn’t pull any punches.

Paul Scholes:

🗣️“Salah is the worst player to be named the best in the world. He did some of the worst stuff you’ll see from a forward, but he was scoring goals. The ball bounced off his feet.

Now that he's not scoring, Slot will have to drop him from the starting lineup at… pic.twitter.com/7gBJOLG6CU

— EPL Bible (@EPLBible) October 29, 2025

“I always thought even when he (Salah) was scoring goals, he looks ugly at times with some of the stuff he does. The ball bounces off his legs; he does some of the worst stuff you’ll see from a centre-forward. When you stop scoring goals, that’s what people focus on.”

This is all fair enough, and some of his comments had long been established before his appearance on the notable podcast. However, what Scholes said next brought the real controversy.

“He (Arne Slot) is going to have to leave him out at some point - it’s sometimes a good thing being left out. He’s got to be the worst ‘best footballer in the world’.”

Does Scholes’ Statement Ring True?

The issue is that at the moment, Scholes is right. Even during the height of his best season to date last season, Salah constantly looked off balance when dribbling, snatched at clear opportunities, and had he been more calm and composed in those moments, his tally could have been so much higher.

Yes, he has still found ways of making it work for him despite his apparent lack of cunning and subtlety, and he has rightly been recognised as one of the world’s elite forwards for almost a decade now, but now in the midst of a rotten run of form of four defeats in five, Salah, as well as his cohorts, is starting to feel the heat.

Calls to drop him from the starting lineup first surfaced after the September international break. He netted his customary opening-day goal against Bournemouth, and many were understandably worried of yet another world-class season from the right-winger.

However, since that fixture in early August, Salah has played the role of a bystander on the right flank the majority of the time, and seems to be struggling with the things that he made look so easy last campaign.

His finishing is profligate, his positioning is questionable at best, and his attitude seems to have deteriorated with each passing week - he was clearly not a happy boy when Slot opted to bench him in the Reds’ 5-1 spanking of Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League last week.

After a run of five club games without a goal or assist, the Egyptian broke his duck with a late consolation finish against Brentford last time out, a goal of high quality that showed glimpses of the Salah of last season.

In case you haven't watched Mohamed Salah's world class goal yet

Here it is from differnt angles 🐐pic.twitter.com/KXfunFdVCH

— (fan) 𝐌.𝐒𝟏𝟏 (@FCSALAH11) October 26, 2025

His superb right-footed half-volley finish could be the sign of a resurgence that Liverpool so desperately needs in this dark hour, but given what he has shown us throughout the season so far, it could prove to be an exception rather than becoming a long-term rule.

Scholes is right about one thing: if he continues this inconsistency, this patchiness so unbecoming of one of the Premier League's best-ever players, he has to be dropped. Summer signing Jeremie Frimpong has made a serious case to occupy that right-wing position from time to time, and though he offers a vastly different skillset to Salah, perhaps a change is exactly what the Merseyside club needs.

The ball is in Salah’s court now - he must raise his level, and quickly, or he could find himself shipped off to Saudi Arabia at the end of the season for very little cash, a move that would make Liverpool’s decision to decline a £150 million offer for him two years ago from the same league look very foolish indeed.

🚨Saudi clubs are already planning a summer move for Mo Salah.

[@indykaila] pic.twitter.com/91mP9hj1NL

— AnfieldIndex (@AnfieldIndex) October 28, 2025