Troy Deeney doubles down on Mo Salah verdict after another Liverpool final blank

The Liverpool winger struggled to make an impact during Sunday's Carabao Cup final to Newcastle.

Salah failed to attempt a shot on goal or create a chance for a team-mate for the first time in his Reds career.

He also remains without an open play goal or assist in seven major cup finals for the club.

As a result, Deeney has now doubled down on his view that Salah does not have 'world class' status.

The talkSPORT co-host told Breakfast: "When you look at the stats, he hasn't scored or had an assist, when you look at it like that it's quite difficult to argue against. You would say he's not turned up in those games.

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"This weekend, I just didn't see a moment in that game where he looked like scoring. He played against them really well in Newcastle [in the Premier League].

"When Liverpool are at their best, it goes all through Salah. It shows how much they will miss Trent (Alexander-Arnold). They do have Quansah and Bradley, but they are not the same quality.

"When coaches are looking at it the day before they will be saying if we double up on Salah we give Trent that dead ball space and he will kill us. They become predictable.

"I'm a big fan of Salah, I just don't think he's world class. His numbers and stats are excellent.

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"What I think of world class is that feeling you get when you watch someone, like Ronaldinho. Eden Hazard and Luis Suarez when they had those seasons in the Premier League too."

Salah's underwhelming final display followed a similar performance against Paris Saint-Germain last week.

Meanwhile, Deeney previously made similar claims back in December as he named Salah's one weakness.

At the time, the former Watford striker told Drive: "I think he misses a lot of big chances.

"It sounds really mental considering the amount of goals he scores. But he misses a lot of big chances."

Despite failing to provide a goal contribution in his last two appearances, he is currently having the best season of his career.

The 32-year-old has scored 32 goals and added 22 assists in 43 appearances across all competitions.

As well as leading the Premier League's goal and assist leaderboards, he is now joint-fifth on the all-time list of top scorers.

Troy Deeney claims Mo Salah is not world class, but blames Liverpool for not sorting out his future at the club

Salah has scored 184 goals in 292 appearances to draw level with Sergio Aguero and just three strikes behind Andrew Cole.

The current campaign could be his last at Anfield, though, after eight years with Liverpool.

Neither Salah or the club have reached an agreement on a new deal, with his contract expiring at the end of this season.