Typically, at age 32, players see a decline in their performance as they begin to wind down their careers. However, Mohamed Salah rewrites the script.
During Liverpool's 5-0 win over West Ham, the Egyptian picked up a goal and two assists, taking his Premier League goals tally to 30 before January.
It is simply a stunning achievement for the Reds winger, who has been linked with a possible move in the summer amid an ongoing contract dispute with the club.
However, it now seems ridiculous that Liverpool would let Salah walk away for free, given how impressive his 2024/25 season has been so far.
In fact, the Egyptian has been so good that he has broken the record for the best minute-to-goal contribution ratio of any Premier League player in history.
With 17 goals and 13 assists from 18 games (1,586 minutes), Salah has a staggering record of one contribution every 53 minutes this season.
As for the current season, Salah sits alone at the top of the table in terms of goal contributions – with Chelsea's Cole Palmer in second place with 18.
Looking at all-time records, Salah's impressive return is the best ever for players to have played more than 1,000 minutes in a league match.
According to The Athletic, Salah follows Arsenal star Gabriel Jesus, who impressively contributed to a goal every 59 minutes during his time at Man City in 2016/17.
However, the statistic is slightly less striking when you consider that Jesus only scored eleven goals – albeit from ten appearances – compared to Salah's thirty.
Similarly, third on the all-time list is former Everton striker Kevin Campbell, who provided nine goals and two assists across eight Premier League games in 1998-99.
Moving up to fourth on the all-time list, we finally have another current player in Man City superstar Erling Haaland and his record-breaking debut year at the club.
After joining City in the summer of 2022, the Norwegian broke the scoring record with a monumental return of 36 goals, along with eight assists.
But even in his record-breaking campaign there was a goal every 63.1 minutes; ten minutes slower than Salah so far.
Former Man United star Ole Gunnar Solskjaer moves into the list at fifth place after scoring 12 goals and providing one assist for the Red Devils in the 1998-99 season.
Meanwhile, former Man City star Sergio Aguero rounds out the top six after his impressive 2013/14 season in which he scored 17 goals and six assists.
Elsewhere on the list are the likes of Luis Suarez and Harry Kane, who have also lit up the Premier League in recent seasons.
Uruguayan star Suarez had a particularly impressive return during the 2013/2014 season, scoring 31 times and providing a further 13 assists.
Meanwhile, Kane's 2016/2017 season, in which he scored 29 goals and registered seven assists, also makes the list.
However, with goal contributions in 68.9 minutes and 70.3 minutes respectively, neither comes close to challenging Salah.
The Egyptian's figures became even more impressive after it was revealed that he scored 30 goals in the fewest games ever.
The Liverpool star managed this in just 18 games: one better than Suarez, four better than Haaland and a whopping seven better than Alan Shearer in 1994-95.
After the 5-0 win over West Ham, Liverpool boss Arne Slot took a moment to praise the 'extraordinary' winger.
Slot said: 'Mo and the word extraordinary is something I've heard a lot over the last six months – he really deserves this.
'We know what a player he is and what he can do. But apart from that, he works very hard for the team, even when the other team has the ball, and yes, we can only hope that he can continue to deliver these performances.
'But I would add that if he scores, there is also a build-up to a goal. So there are other players who put him in these positions, but when you put Mo in these positions, he is extraordinary. Certainly.'
It would be fair to say that Salah has never looked better, and he now has the chance to break even more records in the second half of the season after an extraordinary end to 2024.
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