'Back it up with facts' - Ex-Premier League boss hits back at Troy Deeney over Mohamed Salah claim

Troy Deeney did his best to liven up the international break with his scarcely believable comments about Mohamed Salah. The former Watford striker said the Liverpool hero is not world class and he wouldn't want his children to play like him.

But now his fellow talkSPORT pundit Alan Pardew has hit back at Deeney, who scored 217 goals in 706 career appearances including 47 in the Premier League with Watford.

Former Reading, Newcastle United and Crystal Palace boss Pardew says that the numbers show that Salah is world class. Only seven players have scored more Premier League goals than the Egypt international (165), who has netted 221 times in 366 games for Liverpool since his move from Roma in the summer of 2017.

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Speaking about whether the 32-year-old should be handed a new contract by the Reds, Deeney said: “I think Mohamed Salah is excellent, he’s a pivotal part for Liverpool and they should never have let it (his contract) get to this situation. But I understand that there’s a financial structure around what they want to try and keep to.

"My argument has always been that I just don’t think he’s world class. But world class is just a different opinion, what I think of world class is would I want my kids to play like that player? That's what I think is world class.

“If I was asking my kids who want to be forwards, I would be saying I would like them to look at what Vinicius Jr does as opposed to Mohamed Salah.

"But his goals that he (Salah) scores, he scores an unbelievable amount of goals, he's highly effective, but that’s just my opinion. He's probably going to turn around and say, 'Who the f*** is Troy?', and fair play to him, but that's my opinion."

It's an opinion that is clearly not shared by Pardew, who could not speak more highly of Salah, who has won every major trophy during his time at Anfield.

“You know, it's all good having an opinion, but if you're going to have an opinion, back it up with some stats or some facts or some kind of foundation," said the 63-year-old on talkSPORT.

“And I don't know where Troy's coming from with a foundation, because Vinicius, obviously, got more tricks and is a little bit more flamboyant.

"Maybe that's what he was aiming his conversation at more than Mo. Mo is no frills.

“There's no frills. It's efficiency that he's about.”

Salah at present will be able to leave Liverpool for nothing at the end of the season when his contract expires, although talks are ongoing over a new deal with the ECHO understanding the player would prefer to stay at Anfield.