Mohamed Salah was short on role models for Liverpool rise as Thierry Henry admission made

Mohamed Salah carved out yet another piece of history for himself last night against Bologna, becoming the outright highest-scoring African player in the history of the . The Liverpool forward continues to break new ground, although he has .

Henry is one of the few whom still has left to overtake in the scoring charts. The Arsenal legend bagged 175 goals, with the Liverpool star now just 14 goals behind.

And it will be an especially poignant day if Salah does manage to overtake — which looks to be only a matter of time, especially if he renews his contract at . In the Liverpool program ahead of Bologna, the Egyptian forward explained the role that Henry played in shaping his own perceptions of his position.

"In my opinion, it has changed a lot in the last few years and wingers are now scoring more goals," Salah said. "It used to be usually the striker only who scored most of the goals, but now the wingers score a lot and it will always change the game.

"When I was growing up, I don’t know in that time that the wingers scored that much. I would say Thierry Henry was the one, but he was a kind of striker too, maybe going to the left a little bit more.

"I used to watch him a lot, but he was still a kind of striker who always tended to go to the left side."

It's true that Salah has had to more or less redefine a position. Of the nine players still ahead of him in the Premier League scoring charts, seven are dyed-in-the-wool strikers, with Henry and the only exceptions.

And as Salah says, Henry did often operate as a striker, albeit one who was never afraid to drfit. People have tried to explain the Liverpool man's output in the same way, unable to accept that an out-and-out winger could post such incredible numbers — but the truth is that the 32-year-old has always called the right flank his home at Anfield.

Even so, Henry is definitely the closest comparison that can be drawn to Salah. The former ace was the only one even vaguely hinting at what was possible for a winger in the Liverpool star's formative years.

But Salah is very much his own player. There is nobody like him in the world — a fact of which Liverpool will be acutely aware as it navigates his contract situation — and as the next generation of footballers come through, it will be the Egyptian who serves as a point of reference for excellence.

Liverpool.com says: This probably isn't something we talk about enough when it comes to Salah. It's almost taken for granted now, but the goal output he produces with such consistency is absolutely unheard of for a winger.

We talk about redefining the right-back role, but between the two of them, they have revolutionized a whole flank. Salah is truly a generational player, and one who will be remembered forever.