Mohamed Salah committed his long-term future to Liverpool on Friday by signing a new three-year deal.
The Egypt international was due to be out of contract at the end of the upcoming season, leading to strong links with a move away from Anfield.
However, out of the blue, Salah has penned an extension to – temporarily, at least – bring an end to speculation over his future.
After losing Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich, albeit with Darwin Nunez signed as a replacement of sorts, tying down Salah is a major boost for Liverpool ahead of the new season.
Here, Stats Perform looks at just how important Salah has been for Liverpool over the past five years, and how his record compares to Europe's other elite attackers.
ALREADY AMONG LIVERPOOL GREATS
It is difficult to remember now, but Salah's arrival from Roma in a deal rising to £43million raised more than a few eyebrows due to his disappointing earlier spell with Chelsea.
Six major honours later, including one as a key part in the club's first Premier League title triumph, and Salah will go down as one of Liverpool's all-time greats.
The 30-year-old has made 254 appearances for the Reds in total, 235 of those being starts, and has scored 156 goals while assisting 58 more.
Those 156 goals rank him ninth on the list of Liverpool's record scorers, with considerable ground to make up on Ian Rush at the top of that list with 346 goals.
CLOSING IN ON GERRARD RECORD
Salah might struggle to overhaul Rush, but he will also have another record in his sights when the 2022-23 campaign gets up and running next month.
With 164 direct goal involvements in the Premier League, Salah trails only Steven Gerrard (212) among Reds players in the competition in that regard.
Indeed, only two players from Europe's top five leagues have scored and assisted more goals across the same period – Robert Lewandowski (184) and Lionel Messi (200).
Kylian Mbappe, seen by many as the most desirable player in world football, is fourth on that list on 163 goal involvements, while Ciro Immobile is fifth with 159.
PREMIER LEAGUE PEDIGREE
Salah has scored 118 goals for Liverpool in the Premier League alone, which is 13 more than next-best Harry Kane among all clubs since the start of the 2017-18 season.
Those strikes have helped Salah to three Golden Boot awards – only Arsenal legend Thierry Henry (4) has finished top of the competition's scoring charts more often.
The former Basel forward also ranks top for minutes per goal among those to have played at least 100 times (126 minutes per goal), shots (678) and touches in the opposition box (1,575).
However, one metric he does not lead is assists, with Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne boasting 58 to Salah's 46.
MORE TO COME FROM MO
Salah's output has been consistent across his five years at Anfield, starting between 45 and 49 games a season and registering double figures for assists in all but one of those campaigns.
He has remained a prolific scorer throughout, with a high of 44 goals in the 2017-18 season and a low – but still respectable – 23 in the 2019-20 campaign. The latter was the season when Liverpool won the Premier League.
The Al Mokawloon youth product has managed 31 goals in each of the past two seasons, while the 15 assists registered last season was a career-high.
All that suggests Salah is far from finished on Merseyside, and with a new three-year deal signed, Liverpool fans have plenty more to look forward to from their 'Egyptian king'.
Injury forces Militao out of Brazil's World Cup qualifiers
Eder Militao will miss Brazil's upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Peru due to a thigh injury.
The defender, who also missed September's fixtures due to a leg injury, first felt some discomfort against Atletico Madrid on September 29.
Though he has featured for Real Madrid since, he flew out to Sao Paulo to undergo checks on the issue, where the national team confirmed the extent of the injury.
"[Militao] underwent tests this Sunday... which revealed a minor muscle injury in his left thigh that will prevent him from playing," the CBF said in a statement.
He is the second Madrid player to pull out of the Brazil squad, with Vinicius Junior also unfit to play after suffering a neck injury.
Brazil sit fifth in South America's qualification table after eight matches, with 10 points.
Slot's trust is reason for Liverpool form, says Gravenberch
Ryan Gravenberch has impressed with his performances for Liverpool so far this season, and he says it is a result of the trust shown to him by Arne Slot.
The midfielder joined Liverpool from Bayern Munich last September and made 26 Premier League appearances under Jurgen Klopp, but only started 12 of those games.
Gravenberch has played in all but one of the Reds' games in all competitions so far this season, only missing their EFL Cup win over West Ham, and has become an integral part of Slot's set-up in the deeper-lying midfield role.
The Dutchman has won possession 42 times, more than anyone in the team, and has also won the most duels (41) and made the second-most interceptions (12), only behind Virgil van Dijk (17).
Liverpool sit top of the Premier League going into the international break, with Slot making the best start of any Liverpool manager in the club's history, and Gravenberch credited the manager for his uptick in form.
"The coach gives me confidence and sets me up," Gravenberch told ESPN. "I just do my own thing. The things I did at Ajax, I do now.
"I discuss all kinds of things with him. It's mainly about football. We talked last season as well. I have a good bond with him, and I'm very happy he's here.
"We think in the same way. He likes football and building up from the back. That suits me super well too.
"I'm at a top club now, at Liverpool. I played a lot more last season than in the season before. That was my goal. This season my goal is to play even more than last season and I'm on my way."
Premier League MD7: Lucky winners and unlucky losers
There were plenty of thrills and spills across the board in the Premier League as matchday seven ran its course.
Manchester City and Arsenal both had to come from behind to beat Fulham and Southampton respectively at home, while there were eight goals scored as Brentford overcame Wolves 5-3, with six of those strikes coming in the first half in west London.
Liverpool kept themselves ahead at the summit thanks to a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace, while Manchester United stopped the rot by holding Aston Villa, albeit they have now tallied up their lowest points total after seven games of any Premier League season.
Leicester City, meanwhile, grabbed their first win of the campaign, while Anthony Gordon endured a miserable return to Goodison Park with Newcastle United. In the final fixture of the weekend, Brighton stunned Tottenham, forging a second-half comeback to win 3-2 at the Amex Stadium.
So, after all that, who were the unlucky, and lucky, teams based on the underlying metrics?
Lucky winners: Leicester City
Leicester finally got their first top-flight win of the season on the board, as they edged out Bournemouth 1-0 thanks to Facundo Buonanotte's excellent run and finish.
But, it's fair to say it was something of a smash-and-grab for Steve Cooper's team at the King Power Stadium. Leicester had just six shots, with only two of those hitting the target, and they tallied up just 0.79 expected goals (xG).
On the other hand, Bournemouth had 19 attempts, creating five big chances (a tally bettered only by Brentford's eight and West Ham's nine this week) and accumulating 2.16 xG.
Bournemouth only have themselves to blame for wasteful finishing – they got just two of their efforts on target – but the Cherries can still consider themselves unfortunate.
Unlucky losers: Newcastle
Determined to impress against his former club, Gordon fluffed his lines when his big moment arrived as Newcastle drew 0-0 with Everton on Saturday.
With James Tarkowski having conceded a penalty by recklessly pulling the shirt of Sandro Tonali, Gordon stepped up to the spot, but Jordan Pickford guessed the right way.
While Everton wanted a penalty of their own in the second half, the Toffees were largely second-best and that is backed up by the metrics. Even discounting Gordon's spot-kick, Newcastle finished with 1.26 xG and 14 shots. The hosts accumulated 0.67 xG and had eight attempts.
Lucky winners: Man City
It's not often that the champions are given a run for their money at home, but Fulham did just that.
Indeed, Fulham finished with 2.6 xG at the Etihad Stadium, the fourth-highest total across the league this weekend, while they created five big chances.
Pep Guardiola has said he is not concerned by Man City's unusually open defence, but he will want to see better from his team in that regard after the international break.
Going forward, City benefited from three excellent finishes - two from Mateo Kovacic and one from Jeremy Doku. Their 1.57 xG came from 20 shots, though they created only one big chance.
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