"When a player comes to the end of his career, money talks" – Paul Gascoigne points to Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo while addressing Mohamed Salah's future

England great Paul Gascoigne has likened Liverpool attacker Mohamed Salah to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo amid transfer speculations about the Egyptian's future at the Reds.

Salah, who will turn 33 next June, continued his rich vein of form in his side's 3-3 away league draw at Newcastle United earlier this Wednesday (December 4). He registered two goals and an assist to take his tally for the season to 15 goals and 12 assists in just 21 matches across all competitions for his club.

Following the draw, Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher reiterated that the attacker was being "selfish" with his comments about his contract situation last month. However, Gascoigne is of the opinion that the forward should not pay heed to the pundit. The ex-Everton star told Card Player (h/t liverpool.com):

"Yeah, probably. People like that though, I wouldn't respond if I was Salah. I wouldn't even bother responding to what Jamie said. It's Salah, there’s a lot of people like him. Look at PSG, [they had] an unbelievable team, but Messi even wanted to go to America. Another one, Ronaldo, a top-class player who went to Saudi Arabia. When a player comes to the end of his career, money talks."

Heaping praise on the former Chelsea man, Gascoigne continued:

"But Salah, he's quality, now he's turned it on again. So whatever I said worked. But a quality player. Sometimes when that ball is at his feet, it reminds me a little bit like Messi... just sticks to his foot and he works back for his team, which is good, so I think Carragher was out of order calling him selfish."

While Messi moved to Major League Soccer (MLS) outfit Inter Miami a month after turning 36, Ronaldo joined Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr at 37.

Italy and Juventus great Giorgio Chiellini picks between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

During a chat on The Overlap, Juventus great Giorgio Chiellini picked former club teammate Cristiano Ronaldo over Lionel Messi when queried to choose between the two. He replied (h/t OneFootball):

"When we were losing, he had the balls to take all the balls, no matter what, try to win, shoot from anywhere in order to lead the team to win, and it's not easy to do it for a lot of players. When the game is more difficult, he raises his level of performance."

Ronaldo, 39, played together with Chiellini during his successful three-year spell at Juventus between 2018 and 2021. He produced 101 goals and 22 assists in 131 total matches for the Serie A giants, lifting five trophies in the process.

So far this season, the Portuguese has found the back of the opposition net 15 times and laid out three assists in 18 overall outings for Al-Nassr.