Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said that Mohamed Salah is "on the way" to being named in the same breath as five-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi.
Salah has been in scintillating form during his debut season for Liverpool, with his four-goal haul in the Reds' 5-0 win over Watford this afternoon seeing him establish himself as the top goalscorer in any of Europe's top five leagues.
The Egyptian winger has drawn comparisons with Barcelona's Messi due to the style of a number of those goals, and Klopp was full of praise for the "special" 25-year-old.
"I think Mo is on the way. I don't think Mo or anybody else wants to be compared with Lionel Messi - he is the one who has been doing what he's been doing for what feels like 20 years or so. The last player I know who had the same influence on a team performance was Diego Maradona," Klopp told reporters in his post-match press conference.
"But Mo is in a fantastic way, that's for sure. As it always is in life, if you have to have the skills you have to show that constantly and consistently, and he is very good. He helps us a lot.
"The boys love playing together with him, he loves playing with them so it's good. He gave us a good four goals. I think that's quite exceptional and another good performance. We had to cope and deal with difficult conditions tonight. It was slippery. Everybody suffered but not Mo in that situation. That is really special."
Salah now has 36 goals for the season across all competitions - three more than Messi has managed for Barca.
