‘We spoke about signing Salah while at PSG’

Unai Emery knows all about the threat posed by Liverpool - and in particular that of Mo Salah.

Our head coach was keen to sign the Egypt international when he was in charge of Paris Saint-Germain, but ultimately decided against it.

Since then Salah has established himself as one of the premier players in Europe, and Emery knows just how dangerous he will be at Anfield on Saturday.

“We spoke about the possibility to sign Salah for Paris St Germain when he was playing at Roma,” the Spaniard said.

“We had some doubts – and then he signed for Liverpool and these doubts he has broken. Now, if you are speaking about the five top players in the world, one is Salah.

“[We had doubts over] how he can take the performance in one big team. For example like PSG in Paris. And today I can say to you … if we sign him, we sign one player in the top five in the world. 

“I remember also three years ago. Liverpool had a problem in their defensive moments and bought some people – for example van Dijk – with a good investment and the result is we are looking at them today and their progress.

“They are very strong in defence and also they improved a lot when they bought Salah and now offensively they are a very big team.

“I think the Premier League is now the best and most important competition in the world for the teams, with Spain, maybe Italy and Germany. But I think here are the best teams and players and now the leader in the table is Liverpool and it is because they are doing things very well.

“For us it is a good example but also a good test, how is the difference between them and us. It is clear, they are unbeaten and with many great performances as a team and individually with some big confidence but we need, and we can take, this test.”