Former Liverpool star Stan Collymore wants Mohamed Salah to buck the trend of senior pros who shy away from mentoring youngsters by taking Fabio Carvalho under his wing.
Big things are expected of teen forward Carvalho, who has joined Liverpool from Fulham this summer. And ex-Anfield striker Collymore reckons that, on the back of signing his own new deal at the club, Salah could help ensure the kid fulfils every drop of potential he possesses.
“Liverpool have a huge opportunity now to give Fabio Carvalho a clear pathway to become Salah’s replacement in three years by letting him learn from the master himself,” said Collymore. "Maybe one good, season-long loan in the Premier League with an upwardly-mobile club would be the preference for Carvalho at 19. But if Liverpool are adamant he stays with the first-team group then the best way is to have Salah mentor him so the master can eventually give way to the pupil.
“The trouble is that, often, younger players are seen as a threat by a good number of older players. You don’t hear how cruel senior players can be to younger ones, it’s not something that gets talked about a lot. For every John Barnes, who was brilliant with the younger lads out, there will be four or five seniors who can be absolutely awful and, certainly, we had that at Liverpool. But Salah is at the top of his game and he won’t fear anyone.
“So Liverpool should give him some real responsibility, which players love, to help and guide a youngster, and all of a sudden that conveyor belt of yesteryear will be back creating the Red Machine of today. That’s how dynasties are built. I had players like that pretty much throughout my career. At Crystal Palace, Mark Bright was very good to me, I learnt a lot from him.
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“And at Nottingham Forest, while Stuart Pearce didn’t play in my position, he was a big character around the club. At Liverpool, it was Ian Rush, who was the master of movement. I read a piece Robbie Fowler had written about Rushie and the fact he’d teach you how to run, when to run and where to run. In my later years at Aston Villa and Leicester, I’d try to offer the odd word of advice.
“Gareth Barry, Lee Hendrie and Darren Byfield were three you knew would listen if you said, ‘You might want to have a think about doing this or that’. Of course, sometimes players take it as you being aggressive and get all, ‘You can’t tell me anything’, which is a shame. So despite it being unusual in the game to have a true mentor figure, I see no reason why Salah can’t really help Carvalho on his way. Look, no one is saying Carvalho is automatically going to be the next Mo Salah, but with Salah’s guidance he certainly stands a better chance of getting closer to that level than he will without it.”
