When Liverpool signed Mohamed Salah from AS Roma, the Premier League shrugged its shoulders.
Prominent outlet JOE branded the Egyptian a "waste of money" during his third outing for the Merseyside outfit, against Arsenal, when he "overruns the ball into touch"; this was at half-time, he would score and assist in the second half of the encounter.
What ensued was a record-breaking 44-goal season, Salah scoring a Premier League record 32 goals (in a 38-game campaign) and cementing himself as one of European football's most coveted forwards.
Now 30-years-old, Salah has scored 178 goals and supplied 74 assists from 293 appearances under Jurgen Klopp's tutelage, instrumental in the most illustrious spell at Anfield in a long time, gleaning, notably, the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup.
Before his move to Merseyside, Salah was by no means a household name, an £11m transfer to Chelsea from Swiss outfit Basel in 2014 failed to bear fruit, the wily winger scoring just twice for the west London giants, before completing a permanent transfer to Roma after spending time out on loan with I Giallorossi and Fiorentina.
Liverpool would sign the ace for £34m, and the rest, as they say, is history.
How much is Mohamed Salah worth now?
Having been a stalwart for Klopp's outfit for nearly six seasons, Salah currently boasts a value of £61m – via CIES Football Observatory – which is roughly a 79% increase from the fee parted with to clinch his signature.
Heralded as "lightning" by Reds historian Carl Clemente, Salah has been the centrepiece of Liverpool's triumph and a staple of the clinical and unrelenting might of Klopp's dynasty on Merseyside.
Rumours have materialised of a potential transfer over the past several months, with Italian outlet CalcioMercato (via FourFourTwo) stating that Liverpool are prepared to sell their most coveted asset for a fee of roughly £70m to the likes of Paris Saint-Germain to fund a rebuild, but such claims must be taken with a pinch of salt.
Despite the Reds' seasonal woes, the £350k-per-week gem has still plundered 22 goals and 11 assists from 39 matches across all competitions, ranking among the top 6% of attacking midfielders and wingers over the past year in Europe for goals and the top 12% for assists per 90, as per FBref.
Remarked to be flourishing at a level and consistency that could leave him in eminent standing as "one of the greatest of all time" by former Ballon d'Or winner Michael Owen, Salah continues to leave the Anfield masses in awe with his blistering performances.
And despite the massive increase in value, a testament to the work of Klopp and the transfer department, Salah is Liverpool's offensive catalyst, and the most auspicious route to further success lays in the sustaining phenom's role as the talisman. Indeed, the Merseyside outfit truly struck gold by bringing him back to English football.