Mohamed Salah
Country: Egypt
Club: Liverpool FC
Position: Right Winger
Age: 34
Major Honours: 1 X UEFA Champions League (Liverpool FC). 2 X Premier League (Liverpool FC), 1 X Premier League (Chelsea FC), 1 X FA Cup (Liverpool FC), 2 X League Cup (Liverpool FC), 1 X League Cup (Chelsea FC), 2 X Swiss Super League (FC Basel)
League: Premier League
Club History: Al Mokawloon, FC Basel, Chelsea FC, Fiorentina, AS Roma, Liverpool FC
From a 9-hour bus ride to the throne of world football: How the "Egyptian Pharaoh" conquered Europe.
Serge Shcherbyna | Alamy
Imagine a 14-year-old boy, wearing worn-out sneakers, spending nine hours on buses five times a week just to get to training in the suburbs of Cairo. He is often hungry, has to miss school, and looking out the bus window, he probably has no idea that years later, the world's biggest stadiums will turn his name into a song. This is not a Hollywood script, this is the real-life odyssey of Mohamed Salah — the story of how a left-back becomes the main "pharaoh" of world football.
Salah's childhood began in the small village of Nagrig, Egypt. When he was spotted at the Cairo club Al Mokawloon (Arab Contractors), he had to endure an incredible regimen. He would change 3-4 buses and travel 4.5 hours one way.
At the beginning of his career, Salah did not play in the attack at all. He was a left-wing defender. In one of the decisive matches, which his team won 4:3, Mohamed did not take advantage of the opportunities, which is why he cried bitterly in the locker room. The coach, Said El-Shesheni, saw his insane speed and realized that it was a crime to assign him to the defender. That very day he was transferred to the attacking line.
"When I first saw him in Egypt, I knew he was special. His speed was not human, he didn't run on the pitch, he flew."
— Momedo Zico (Egyptian football expert and his first discoverer).
In 2012, the local championship was suspended due to the tragedy that occurred in Egypt (the Port Said stadium disaster). Swiss club Basel made a smart move: they organized a friendly match with the Egyptian U-23 team. Salah entered the field only in the second half, scored a double, and the club immediately signed him to a contract.
Salah was brought to Chelsea by Jose Mourinho in 2014, but it was the most difficult period of his career. He was mostly on the bench. Many considered Salah to be "too weak" physically for the Premier League.
When Chelsea decided to loan him out, Salah took the number 74 shirt at Fiorentina in Florence. It was no coincidence – he chose it to pay tribute to the 74 fans who died in the Port Said tragedy in his native Egypt. At Fiorentina and then at Roma, he underwent a complete transformation. In Italy, he learned the strict tactical discipline and body control he had lacked before.
"Salah was amazing at Roma. In every training session he did things that made defenders dizzy. His progress in Italy was the foundation for what he did in England." — Francesco Totti.
A new home
"When he came to Liverpool I thought he was a good player, but what he did in his first season was absolutely crazy. He blew everyone away. He came back from Italy a ready, ruthless killer in the penalty area. I've never seen a player with such a thirst and ambition to come back to England." — Steven Gerrard.
When Salah signed for Merseyside, he made a strange condition to Jurgen Klopp. He wanted to play exclusively on the right wing, where the team's main star at the time, Sadio Mane, played. Klopp had to talk Mane into moving him to the left wing, which initially caused some tension in the team. However, Salah's motivation was so great that he surprised everyone in his first training sessions. He returned from Italy not just a thin and fast guy, but an athlete with muscle mass and incredible physical strength. He specifically changed his diet and strength training plan during his stay in Italy so that he would not lose the battles with defenders when he returned to England.
In the summer of 2017, Jurgen Klopp needed a special forward for Liverpool - a player who would fit perfectly into his famous tactical scheme, the "gegenpressing". The club's analysts suggested Mohamed Salah, who was shining at Roma at the time, as a candidate. Salah's transfer cost the Merseyside club 42 million euros (up to 50 million with bonuses), which was a record amount for Liverpool at the time.
The British media and experts viewed this move with great skepticism. The press wrote bluntly: “Liverpool paid a huge amount of money for a player who had already been rejected by Chelsea and kicked out of the league.” They believed that Salah would not be physically able to withstand the rough defenders of the Premier League again.
In response to the critics, Salah caused a real football earthquake. In his debut season, he scored 32 goals in the Premier League (breaking the records of Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez and Alan Shearer) and forced all the sceptics to apologize.
Mohamed Salah's Liverpool story wouldn't be complete without the huge drama he endured in the 2018 Champions League final in Kiev. His injury during the opening minutes of the match, during a challenge with Sergio Ramos, and his tearful exit from the pitch, broke the hearts of millions of fans around the world. Liverpool lost that final, but for Salah it wasn't the end - it was the beginning of a new chapter.
"His injury in Kiev was a tragedy, but it was at that moment that his true character was revealed. He didn't break. In Madrid, before the final, there was only one thing in his eyes - a relentless thirst for revenge. He is a monster with a great mentality." - Arsene Wenger.
In the dressing room after the final in Kiev, while doctors worked on his shoulder, Salah promised Jurgen Klopp: “Next year we’ll be back here again and we’ll lift the trophy.” Over the next 12 months, Salah worked like a madman. He spent extra hours in the gym every day to strengthen his upper body so that a similar injury would never happen again. In 2019, at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid, he fulfilled his promise - scoring a penalty against Tottenham in the 2nd minute of the match and bringing Liverpool their sixth Champions League trophy.
In the 2019/20 season, Salah achieved what no one else had managed in three decades on Merseyside — Liverpool won the Premier League title. Salah became the team's undisputed leader and main striker.
Salah has broken every possible record on the domestic stage. One particularly memorable moment was in October 2021, when he scored a hat-trick against Manchester United at Old Trafford (the match ended 5-0). He became the first visiting player in Premier League history to do so.
“What Salah does is not just football. He is a social phenomenon. He unites cultures, breaks down stereotypes and builds bridges where politicians have destroyed everything. He is a true ambassador.” — Thierry Henry.
Salah is known for his "selfish" approach to scoring goals, which has often led to arguments with Sadio Mane. However, behind the scenes, Salah was the first to help young players (such as Harvey Elliott or Curtis Jones) individually. He would stay with them after training and teach them how to hold the ball with their body and how to read defenders' movements in a split second.
Salah's phenomenon has completely transcended the boundaries of sport in Liverpool. He has become the first Arab and Muslim athlete to make such a radical and positive impact on British culture.
A special sociological study conducted by Stanford University officially confirmed that after Salah moved to Liverpool, the number of hate crimes in the Merseyside region decreased by 18.9%, and the number of anti-Muslim posts on the Internet was halved. Fans in the stadium proudly sang: “If he scores a few more goals, I will become a Muslim too.”
In March 2023, in a historic 7-0 win over Manchester United, Salah scored a brace to become Liverpool's all-time top scorer in the Premier League, breaking Robbie Fowler's previously unbeaten record.
After the new generation came to the team (Nunez, Diaz, Gakpo), Salah radically changed his playing style. He was no longer just a “selfish” goal scorer. In the 2023/24 season, Salah created the most “Big Chances” (one hundred percent goal chances) for his teammates in the top European leagues. He set up a special video room at home, where he spent hours studying Darwin Nunez's movement patterns to deliver perfect passes to him. He went from being a pure forward to being the team's main brain and playmaker.
"People don't realise Salah's greatness until he's playing. He's changed his style of play to help the team. He's not just a winger anymore, he's an architect of the pitch. Breaking Robbie Fowler's record at Liverpool means you're immortal." — Ian Rush
In late 2021 and early 2022, Salah faced the biggest psychological blow of his life. It was a period when everything was going perfectly at the club, but at the international level, his heart suffered two catastrophes — first, he lost the Africa Cup of Nations final to Senegal, and then lost his place in the World Cup to the same Senegal on penalties.
When Salah returned to Liverpool's training ground just 24 hours after missing the World Cup, Jurgen Klopp offered him a few days off to recover. Salah refused, putting on his training kit and saying: "The only way I can forget this pain is to score goals on the pitch." Despite immense fatigue, he led Liverpool to two domestic trophies that season (the FA Cup and the League Cup) and another Champions League final, Where only Thibaut Courtois's unrealistic saves stopped him. At the end of the season, he became the Premier League's top scorer (Golden Boot) and best assist provider at the same time.
"What Salah did in 2022 is the pinnacle of mental toughness. To come back to a club after such a disappointment at international level and leave the team fighting for all four titles is something that only a few can do. He is a real man of steel." — Rio Ferdinand
Salah has become even more dangerous under Arne Slot's tactics. He even showed statistics in the 2024/25 season that were among the nominees for the "Golden Ball". He became the first player in Premier League history to score 20+ goals and 10+ assists in consecutive seasons.
"There is no one in the world at the moment better than Mohamed Salah. What he did against United and Manchester City is only comparable to Lionel Messi at his peak. His space management and finishing are an art." — Jamie Carragher
When Mohamed Salah hangs up his boots one day, the football world will sum up his career with a thousand numbers, records and Golden Boots. However, his true greatness lies in the gruelling nine-hour journey that transformed the lanky left-back into an architect of world football. Salah has proven that the strongest muscle in sport is mentality – a will of steel that saw him through the disappointment of Chelsea, He had to endure the tragedy of the Kiev final and turn down billions from Saudi Arabia just to make history.
He is not just a Liverpool legend or another Premier League star. Mohamed Salah is a cultural phenomenon who has broken down religious and social barriers with his magical left foot on the pitch and his simplicity off it. Anfield has had many kings, but there is only one Pharaoh, and his era, which is still being written before our eyes, will go down in sporting history in golden letters.
“The Saudis offered him the world, but Salah chose legacy. He wants to be the best ever to play in England. He’s not a money player, he’s a history player, and in Arne Slot’s hands, he’s still the backbone of the team.” — Alan Shearer (assessing the 2025/2026 season).
Mark Pain | Alamy
“Salah showed football that dreams have no limits. What he created is not just titles — it is hope for millions of children around the world who believe that nothing is impossible. He is already immortal.” — Jurgen Klopp.
Written by Nini Giorgadze