Mo Salah told where he stands in Premier League all-time ranks ahead of Liverpool exit

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Well, the news is out. Liverpool's talismanic, record-breaking, all conquering Egyptian kingpin, Mohamed Salah , will officially depart Anfield at the end of the season.

The attacker announced the news in an emotional video on Tuesday night , sending shockwaves through the football world . Yes, there have been whispers over Salah's future. And his explosive mixed zone interview back in December did feel like a point of no return .

With speculation becoming reality, talk of where Salah will head next, and how the Premier League champions will replace him, is already rife. The Premier League will undoubtedly be all the poorer without Salah - but where does he rank among the all-time greats?

We asked the Mirror Football team for their take...

The Premier League Hall of Fame has airbrushed him from the competition’s history but Ryan Giggs’ achievements might mean Mo Salah is not even the best left-footed player to have graced English club football.

But whether rightly or wrongly, Giggs is the name we do not mention, meaning the likes of Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo , Kevin de Bruyne and Wayne Rooney are the players we rank him alongside.

Has Salah been as powerfully elegant as Henry? No. Has he been as creative as De Bruyne? No. Has he been as talismanic as Ronaldo was for a short while? Possibly not. Has he been as effective in an all-round sense as Rooney? Doubtful.

In terms of his importance to an elite club over a long period, though, he has been as invaluable as any of those. But in the interests of ranking, let’s rank them in terms of watchability. Who would you pay most to watch?

And for me, in the short history of the Premier League, Salah only ranks below Henry and De Bruyne.

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You could make the case that Mo Salah ranks somewhere among the Premier League's 10 greatest ever players. Anything beyond that, though, I disagree with. The Liverpool legend is a difficult one to compare with stars of the past, as he typified the Premier League's transition from wide midfielders to inside forwards. Is he more like David Beckham or Thierry Henry? I'd argue the latter, so I compare him to forwards who boast statistics that can rival that of Salah. Today, perhaps with recency bias in mind, I'd go with an attacking trio of Salah, Wayne Rooney and Henry in my all-time Premier League XI. But there's at least five players who I reckon have a greater legacy, including Rooney and Henry. That's why, despite his incredible longevity, I don't think Salah is in the conversation for the very best player in Premier League history.

In terms of the all-time Premier League greats, Mo Salah simply has to be somewhere near the very, very top.

He perhaps wasn't as graceful as Thierry Henry, or as pristine in terms of his overall play as someone like a Kevin De Bruyne, but in terms of sheer bloody single-minded ruthlessness and the ability to deliver over and over and over again, Liverpool's Egyptian King has few equals.

Sometimes his touch could be a little wanting, sometimes the selfish streak could be infuriating and perhaps he didn't have all the flicks and tricks of a young Cristiano Ronaldo, but he more than made up for that by delivering week after week for the best part of nine years at Anfield, scoring goals, assisting others and leading an unquestionably outstanding Liverpool team to a remarkable level of consistency.

Salah was at the forefront of the Reds going toe-to-toe with Manchester City , as the two reached new heights in terms of points totals and brutal efficiency, while his goals helped propel the club back to the forefront of European football at its top table. Trophies duly followed, both team and individual, and you couldn't not notice the overflowing trophy cabinet behind Salah as he gave his farewell address on Tuesday night.

Those trophies help to highlight the wonderful legacy of a true Premier League great, and one who, if we're being perfectly honest, when it comes down to what they've won and the impact they've had, had few equals.

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The really memorable players almost have a sense of inevitability about them. If the ball finds them in their area, the result is a foregone conclusion.

Whether that’s Salah picking up the ball and running at a backtracking defender, Henry cutting inside from the left flank, or Wayne Rooney driving towards the goal of United’s opponents.

But with Alan Shearer, it was inevitable from almost anywhere. Yes, he didn’t have the pace of Salah, or the guile of De Bruyne, but if there was a chance - even half of one, he took it. His record of 260 goals in 411 Premier League games is scarcely believable. Particularly when it was in teams not always chasing the title.

For the purpose of this argument we will look at attacking players only, just because comparing them to defenders can get a little complicated. And Salah is very secure in the pantheon of the greatest Premier League forwards.

But for me, Shearer tops the lot - even if Salah's goals-per-game ratio even stands up against the league's record scorer.

For years, he has been inevitable. And as such, it would be criminal to argue a case against Salah deserving a spot among some of the Premier League's all-time greats.

I always think it's difficult to effectively - and fairly - compare players and teams from different eras. Would Thierry Henry or Ryan Giggs have enjoyed the same success playing in the current age, or would Salah have torn things up in the Premiership era? There are so many factors that are hard to quantify.

One thing that isn't up for debate when it comes to Salah is his consistency: bar this season, his returns in front of goal have been absolutely ridiculous. And the fact that he holds the record for most goal contributions in the Premier League era (281) speaks volumes.

Is he above the likes of Henry, Giggs, Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney? Maybe not. But time could alter people's viewpoint. After all, he has been consistently brilliant for such a prolonged period, that when people look back on this era of Premier League football, Salah will be at the forefront of the conversation.