The Mohamed Salah story

The Mohamed Salah story - In his own words...

Born in the Egyptian city of Basyoun, 100km or so north of Cairo, Mohamed Salah’s footballing journey began in the Nasr City district of the country’s capital.

A talented youngster, he honed his skills in the youth teams of El Mokawloon SC, and made his debut for the senior side aged just 17 at the back end of the 2009-10 season, going on to make five appearances in total.

The following campaign saw Salah fully establish himself in the first team, and he grabbed his first goal at that level in a 1-1 away draw with eventual champions Al-Ahly in December.

By 2011-12, the winger was a key man for El Mokawloon, and was given recognition in the form of a maiden full international cap in September, which came in a 2-1 defeat to Sierra Leone.

However, having featured in every game for his club by February of that season, the Port Said Stadium disaster resulted in the cancellation of all remaining Egyptian Premier League fixtures.

In the absence of domestic football, Egypt’s U23s team were invited to play a friendly match against Basel at the Stadion Rankhof in March 2012.

The Swiss club had already been keeping tabs on Salah and were fully convinced of his talents when he scored two goals as a second-half substitute in that fixture.

Salah adapted quickly to life in Switzerland and emerged as a vital component of a team that won the Swiss Super League and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League, scoring against both Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea in the latter competition.

A strong start to 2013-14 saw Salah put Chelsea to the sword once again, as he netted in Basel’s shock Champions League group-stage victories over Jose Mourinho’s team.

Those performances persuaded the Stamford Bridge club to add the attacker to their ranks in January 2014 - amid rumours of strong interest from Liverpool - but he saw little game time before the end of the campaign.

Salah made just six Premier League starts over the remainder of that season and was adjudged to have slim prospects of featuring more regularly by the time 2014-15 got under way.

As such, he agreed a season-long loan switch to Fiorentina that helped prove he could make the grade in one of Europe’s toughest leagues.

Such was Salah’s impact in Florence, he was in high demand in Serie A when the possibility of another loan for the 2015-16 campaign emerged.

Roma won the race on that occasion and made the move permanent the following summer after 15 goals in 42 appearances from their new man.

The Egyptian took things up a level last term, finding the back of the net 19 times in 41 outings, and he will now hope to transfer that form to the Premier League after getting a second chance to prove himself in England with the Reds.

And it was an opportunity he grasped with both hands.

After an impressive pre-season campaign, Salah began 2017-18 with a goal on his debut at Watford. A maiden Anfield strike followed in a Champions League qualifier against Hoffenheim.

On the international stage, Salah scored twice – including a penalty deep into stoppage-time – to send Egypt to their first World Cup finals since 1990 with a 2-1 win over Congo in October.

Then, in December, he became the fastest player to reach 20 goals for the club since George Allen in 1895 when he hit the milestone with by netting in a win at Bournemouth, taking just 26 appearances.

By now, he was the subject of several Kop chants – and was also given the nickname ‘The Egyptian King’ by supporters.

The goals continued to flow in the new year, too – four came in one game alone against Watford at Anfield. Meanwhile, Salah scored in both legs to send Liverpool past Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-final 5-1 on aggregate. Including a composed chipped finish that gave the Reds a crucial away goal at the Etihad.

In April, the forward made Premier League history by becoming the first person to claim the Player of the Month award three times in the same season after winning it for November, February and March.

He bagged goal No.40 of a superlative debut season with a looping header against Bournemouth at Anfield.