Curtis Jones says Mohamed Salah is not the best Liverpool star he's played with

Liverpool star Curtis Jones has admitted Mohamed Salah is not the best teammate he has played with so far during his Reds career.

Since breaking into the Liverpool first team back in 2019, Jones has played alongside a number of Reds legends, like Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane, Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and many more. Recently, the 23-year-old, who scored the Reds winner last weekend against Chelsea in a 2-1 win, revealed who the best teammate he has played with was.

Appearing on Sky Sports' Saturday Social, fans were asked to pick the best player they believed Jones had played with, naming Salah. However, while Jones revealed he reckons Salah is "one of the best in the world" when it comes to picking up goals and assists, he actually selected ex-Liverpool star Roberto Firmino as his best teammate.

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"It's hard because I play with a lot of lads who I think they're the best at [a certain skill], but in terms of goals and assists he's [Salah] probably one of the best in the world," Jones said.

He then added: "The best player, in my opinion that I've played with, who I was just like 'wow', amazed by every single day - Firmino. Firmino's a man where if you understand the game, you're in love with the actual game, taking goals and assists away, he's the man."

While Jones' comments may have left some scratching their heads, one individual who always knew Firmino would be a success at Anfield prior to his 2023 move to Saudi Arabia was Liverpool's former director of research, Ian Graham. Excerpts from Graham's new book, 'How to Win the Premier League' recently revealed just how Liverpool determined Firmino's best position.

"The fact that Firmino played three positions should have been seen as a strength, but I think it was seen as a weakness – other teams didn’t know what to make of him," Graham explained.

"From my point of view a multifunctional player is a huge asset: if Firmino can play in three positions, then less squad depth is needed in those positions because he can fill in there."

He added: "We could use Firmino’s games as a striker to compare him to other strikers, and his games as a 10 to compare him to other 10s. The result was that, as a 10, he looked like one of the best young players in Europe. Most of the young players who rated better than him – Alexis Sanchez, James Rodriguez, Isco, Oscar, [Paul] Pogba, [Aaron] Ramsey – were playing for huge Champions League teams and completely unrealistic signings for Liverpool’s position in the pecking order in 2015."

Liverpool.com says: "While some may be confused that Jones selected Firmino over Salah, it's important to remember the former was still an incredible player for Liverpool. Firmino was the straw that stirred the drink - which in this case was Liverpool's attack. He was asked to do a thankless task of linking Liverpool's forward line, allowing Salah and Mane to flourish."