'Golden era' - National media left in awe of Mohamed Salah amid harsh reality of Liverpool exit

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All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook page'Salah’s parting feels like the end of an era for Liverpool'Writing in The Times, Paul Joyce said: “Sometimes you cannot help but wonder at what might have been.“It is remarkable to contemplate now, when attempting to encapsulate the Liverpool career of a player who has scaled so many dizzying heights and helped transform an entire institution, that Mohamed Salah was actually the back-up plan.“If things had worked out differently in the summer of 2017, Julian Brandt, the Bayer Leverkusen winger at the time, would have arrived at Anfield instead.”The former Daily Post scribe then continued: “That he is going out on his own terms, an absolute great of the club, is the very least he deserves. There was a sense at times that this was a post-Salah side that somehow still featured Salah.“His departure has felt inevitable from the moment he stopped in the mixed zone after Liverpool’s 3‑3 draw at Leeds in December and, clearly smarting at repeatedly being left out, spoke of how he had “no relationship” with Arne Slot.

He has become woven into the tapestry of the region, and his legacy will endure long after he says his Anfield farewells.“From a football perspective, Salah's impending exit leaves Liverpool with a huge void to fill. The Egyptian has failed to live up to his own impossibly high standards this term -- his current tally of 10 goals in 34 games puts him on course for his least productive season in a red shirt -- and yet it is still almost impossible to imagine Liverpool without him.”'Like a scene from a computer game'Recalling an iconic Mohamed Salah, another former ECHO scribe, now of the Daily Mail, Dominig King wrote: “The first Premier League goal he scored at Anfield looked like a scene from a computer game.

And he would keep on doing it.”'It is a crying shame but also a harsh reality'John Cross of the Daily Mirror wrote: “And his departure will also raise a very obvious and difficult question: who is the face of the Premier League now?“Salah, 33, has been that player throughout his time at Anfield. There has been a talent drain.“It is a genuine concern that, with the exit of the all-time greats, the Premier League will be missing world class talent.”'The Egyptian King'While here at the ECHO, our Liverpool correspondent, Paul Gorst wrote: “Most of the gleaming baubles, golden boots and winners medals that shimmered behind him, as he told the world of his end-of-season plans, were earned as a Liverpool player.“Those symbols of success were confirmation enough of how good Salah has been for most of this past decade, but cold, hard silverware only tells half the story for supporters who have loved him like few others.“For the past nine seasons fans have sung loud and proud about their Egyptian King, running down the wing and with the return of domestic action coming in early April, opportunities to continue doing just that will now be fleeting for Liverpool's fanbase.”Before he concluded: “In a region informally known to some as the People's Republic of Merseyside, many Liverpudlians have a complicated relationship with the monarchy.