Mo Salah, Liverpool’s goal machine
Super-striker Mo Salah is showing he’s worth every penny Liverpool forked out for him
FORTY PLUS goals in one season is an incredible feat for any striker – but for a player in his first-ever season with a brand-new Premier League team? Almost unheard of. Yet Mohamed “Mo” Salah Ghaly didn’t seem to get the memo that this isn’t usually done.
Salah – or “The Pharaoh” or “The Egyptian King” as fans have dubbed him – donned Liverpool red for the first time in a game against Watford on 12 August last year. In just nine months the 25-yearold has sent an incredible 43 balls into the back of the net – including two sublime goals in Liverpool’s dramatic 5-2 drubbing of Italian side Roma recently.
That’s 43 goals in 47 appearances. Little wonder he was recently named the Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year for 2017-2018, edging out Tottenham Hotspur’s Kevin De Bruyne and Harry Kane, Manchester City’s Leroy Sané and David Silva, and Manchester United’s David de Gea.
Anfield bosses are seeing an incredible return on their biggest investment to date. Last year they forked out £36,9 million (then R608 million) to Roma for the Egyptian forward, eclipsing their previous record spend of £35 million (then R437 million) for Andy Carroll in 2011.
To top it off, Salah’s record-breaking fee could rise to an eye-watering £43,9 million (R746 million) should he reach certain performance targets laid out in his contract. And with this season’s phenomenal showing, the Liverpool bean counters will probably have to cough up soon.
In March Salah shot to leading goalscorer in Europe’s top five leagues – overtaking even Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Kane, the current Golden Boot titleholder.
The curly-haired player with the infectious smile now officially holds the record for the most goals scored by a single player in their debut season at Anfield.
“We’re witnessing the start of greatness,” former captain Steven Gerrard recently said.
But Salah doesn’t seem particularly overawed by his own achievements. “In the end I’m happy to score, happy to help the team, that’s it,” he said recently. “Of course I can’t lie – the Golden Boot is in my
‘When he comes back he signs every autograph. He hasn’t changed’
mind. But you know, you can see today with the team everyone tries to pass the ball to me to help me.
“I’m also sure Tottenham’s players try to help Harry Kane, and also Manchester City’s try to help Sergio Agüero. It’s like that but in the end we play as a team.”
HE’S raking in big bucks now – a cool £90 000 (R1,53 million) a week to be precise – but Salah, a devout Muslim, isn’t falling into the trap of dropping his dough on fast cars and lavish parties.
The lightning-fast winger has been quietly sending hundreds of thousands of pounds back to his hometown of Nagrig, a village in the Nile Delta.
After establishing a charity foundation, Salah bought the town its first ambulance and much-needed medical equipment.
He’s also helping fund a youth centre, a girls’ school and a medical centre, and spends thousands of pounds a month supporting several families in the area.
It’s little wonder the town has given their beloved export the nickname “happiness maker” and Salah’s old school and the local soccer youth club have both been renamed in his honour.
Salah’s wife, Maggi – with whom he has a four-year-old daughter, Makka – also grew up in Nagrig.
“He still comes back to Nagrig every Ramadan to present prizes to kids,” says Mohamed Bassyouni, a childhood friend.
“He comes here, he plays table tennis and pool. When he comes back he signs every autograph, stands for every picture. He hasn’t changed.”
And the happiness maker’s kindness doesn’t just extend to friends and neighbours. Another Nagrig resident told of how, when Salah’s parents were burgled, his dad, Salah Ghaly, wanted to press charges – but Salah wouldn’t hear of it. Instead he helped the thief find a job.
“He was brought up in a good, modest family and there he learnt to be good to others,” another Nagrig resident, Adel Al-Abbas, told UK newspaper The Sun.
Hamdi Nooh, Salah’s first coach at the club El Mokawloon, says he always knew his protégé would go far.
“Mohamed was willing to sacrifice everything,” he says. “I told him to keep a timetable: no staying up late. No getting out of bed late. He stuck to it. He’d pray and then go to sleep early. I’m not the man who made him but I know he listened to me. He listened to everyone.”
TO PREMIER League fans it might seem as if Salah burst onto the scene out of nowhere – but it’s not his first stint at an English glamour club. He was first signed to Chelsea, who bought him from Swiss Super League club Basel for £11 million (then R198 million) in 2014.
He had an underwhelming stay at the Blues, but to be fair the then 21-year-old didn’t get much pitch time. He was often brought on only in substitutions, playing the last few minutes of most games, until he was shipped off to Italian club Fiorentina on an 18-month loan in 2015.
Salah saw more action there and his handful of goals and assists impressed enough for the club to try to make the move permanent – but the young star wasn’t keen.
He returned to Chelsea without seeing out his Fiorentina contract and was then sent to Italy again – this time in a more permanent deal with Roma.
The move ruffled feathers at Fiorentina, who accused Chelsea of breach of contract, but Fifa rejected the club’s complaint and subsequent appeal.
Time at Roma seemed to be just what Salah needed. He appeared 83 times for the Serie A side, racking up 34 goals and 24 assists in a little less than two years at Stadio Olimpico, earning him a player of the season trophy for his cabinet.
Unsurprisingly, Premier League bigwigs came sniffing again.
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp had been watching Salah for years, first spotting the small, agile player in 2013 when his then-team Borussia Dortmund took on Salah’s Basel in a preseason friendly.
Klopp had a lengthy discussion with his staff about Salah after the game. “We didn’t know him,” the German would later say. “It was unbelievable!”
Liverpool made Salah the offer that lured him back to England and hasn’t looked back. As sports writer Neil Jones points out, “Liverpool knew they were getting a good player when they signed him but even they couldn’t have foreseen this kind of impact. The £36,9 million paid to Roma was a steal.”
It’s only been a handful of years since Salah’s less-than-stellar season at Chelsea – so how has he skyrocketed to a serious Golden Boot contender?
“Credit must go to Salah first and foremost,” Jones writes. “His work ethic, attitude and willingness to develop and fit in have been noted by everyone at Anfield. Humble, quiet and a positive presence, he’s had no problem integrating with a close-knit Liverpool squad.
“The Egyptian’s first experience in the Premier League at Chelsea was difficult, but he’s taken his second chance with both hands.”