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Mohamed Salah has been Liverpool's best 'by a mile' - Steven Gerrard

Steven Gerrard believes Mohamed Salah has been Liverpool's best player this season "by a mile."

Salah took his tally in all competitions to 12 goals with a double in Saturday's 4-1 victory at West Ham United.

The Egypt international joined from Roma for a club record £36.9 million in the summer, and Gerrard said any reservations about how he would settle at Anfield had quickly vanished.

"As a fan, I watched him at Chelsea and it didn't really take off for him," he told BT Sport.

"Of course he hit top form at Roma but you're thinking: 'Is he a player suited to the Premier League?'

"And when he first came I, along with a lot of Liverpool fans, wasn't totally sure how it was going to work out.

"But you've got to give the manager and the recruitment staff a huge amount of credit for spending that amount of money on a player who it hasn't worked out for in the Premier League before.

"He's come in and been absolutely top drawer this season. He's been Liverpool's best player by a mile."

Meanwhile, manager Jurgen Klopp said Liverpool's recruitment staff had urged him to sign Salah early in the summer.

"We were sure he can help us," Klopp told the club's official website. "[Sporting director] Michael Edwards, Dave Fallows and Barry [Hunter], they were really in my ear and were on it: 'Come on, come on, Mo Salah, he's the solution!'"

"When you have 20 players on the table, different players, it's difficult to make an early decision -- but we all were convinced about it so we could make the early decision.

"He's a fantastic person, a nice lad and a really good football player.

"I didn't think if he can score 12 goals or whatever in 17 games -- I hope he's not finished now!"