Mo Salah shows why Liverpool consider him priceless as Reds dismantle hapless Aston Villa

Liverpool 3-0 Aston Villa (Szoboszlai 3’, Cash OG 22’, Salah 55’)

ANFIELD – Al-Ittihad were not willing to pay £150m for Mohamed Salah’s football alone. As the most famous Arab player on the planet, they viewed him as a symbolic icon. What they had not bargained with is his enduring cultural influence 4,000 miles away, here on Merseyside.

The Kop will breathe a little easier when the Saudi transfer window closes on 7 September but revelled in the chance to serenade their Egyptian king as Liverpool delivered a resounding victory that once again exposed Aston Villa’s defensive issues.

By the time Salah poked in the third from close range, to make it 11 consecutive Premier League game at Anfield in which he has been involved in a goal, the mood was light. Darwin Nunez had flicked it on, amends for missing a sitter and wasting Salah’s hard work moments earlier. The Uruguayan had been reduced to laughter by his own effort, leading with the leg and heading wide from yards out.

It mattered little, though, because Villa had already given Liverpool enough opportunities to kill the game. Had they accepted the Saudis’ offer Liverpool would have been chuckling all the way to the bank but they prefer to keep a little more joy on the pitch for now. With 12 goals and assists in his last 10 games, there is no sign of it drying up from Salah just yet.

A fragile Villa defence did not help. Unai Emery needs no reminders of how much his side misses Tyrone Mings – and things got even worse with Diego Carlos forced off after 19 minutes.

Lacking the organisation and leadership the England centre-back brings, Dominik Szoboszlai hit his first Liverpool goal cleanly from the edge of the box through a crowd of bodies and into the far side of Emiliano Martinez’s net. There were just two minutes and 44 seconds on the clock.

There was no obvious guilty party, but it had begun through a Pau Torres error, hurried off the ball under pressure inside the box. He recovered enough to concede a corner, and it was Trent Alexander-Arnold’s out-swinger that teed up Szoboszlai for a strike which was thoroughly deserved for the influence he has had on Liverpool’s new-look midfield. It bears repeating that Jurgen Klopp missed out on two of his prime targets this summer, Jude Bellingham and Romeo Lavia.

At the other end, Szoboszlai was the only red shirt ready to intervene when Moussa Diaby delivered an ominous ball into the box.

The 22-year-old really is everywhere, leaving Lucas Digne on the floor with a flick – and that’s before he is given even greater freedom when deadline day signing Ryan Gravenberch is ready to slot in.

The second was a little closer to old-school Liverpool, Salah bringing it down onto the feet of Nunez, who rattled an effort against the post. Matty Cash was unfortunate that the rebound bounced off him for an own goal.

Against Newcastle, Nunez had bathed in the chaos; this was a more orchestrated, well-thought out plan of attack.

Digne was repeatedly left scrambling, Villa’s left flank terrorised by Alexander-Arnold. After his issues with Anthony Gordon, this was a return to what he is best at. It was only a pity his afternoon ended with a knock that may put his international break in doubt.

Yet Liverpool go into the next fortnight in cruise control, still unbeaten and confident that Klopp’s excitement at his squad’s “reinvention” is genuine this time. Salah or no Salah, there is a real possibility they have struck gold.