How an icy pitch in Basel set Salah on the road to Liverpool stardom
Forward was an instant hit as a teenager on trial, Swiss club’s ex-president tells Chris Bascombe ‘He was playing against one of our fastest defenders in a friendly. In his first two sprints we were amazed’
Among his many achievements in an astounding debut season at Liverpool, Mohamed Salah is responsible for one of the most active phones in Europe. “I send him a text after every goal,” says Bernhard Heusler, former president of Swiss club Basel. “It is enriching to see how his career has developed.”
It was Heusler, alongside Georg Heitz, Basel’s former sporting director, who negotiated the deal with Egyptian club Arab Contractors to take the teenage Salah to Switzerland six years ago.
It not only transformed Basel but set in motion a journey which has elevated Salah to one of Europe’s elite footballers – and a potentially pivotal figure in tomorrow’s Champions League quarter-final first leg between Liverpool and Manchester City.
Anfield on a European night is a far cry from the icy pitch at Basel’s Stadion Rankhof on March 16, 2012 when, in front of 500 fans, Salah made his first appearance on European soil. His impact was instant.
With the score at 1-1 at half-time in a friendly between Basel and Egypt’s Under-23s, Salah was sent on and was celebrating with his favoured kissing of the turf within 10 minutes, drifting from the right wing to tap in at the far post. He would score again in a 4-3 win.
“In this small stadium, with not many spectators, we saw a star rise in Basel,” recalls Heusler. “A contact in Egypt made our sporting director aware of Salah and this match was organised with the purpose of watching him and Mohamed Elneny.
“We would never agree to sign a player based on a video, so we had to see him, but the Egyptian season was interrupted because of the problems in the country (following the Port Said Stadium massacre), so we invited the Egyptian Olympic team to play us as they were preparing for the Olympics the following summer.
“What I remember was it was a freezing night in a small stadium, conditions he could not have been familiar with in Cairo. He was playing against one of our fastest defenders. In his first two sprints we were amazed.
“We immediately asked him to do some more trials with us, which in itself was amazing that he agreed to this, but we really thought it would benefit him and us.”
Within a month,
Salah had agreed a permanent deal with
Basel, but when he debuted at the start of the next season, not all were convinced he was a suitable replacement for Xherdan Shaqiri, who was bound for Bayern Munich.
“We were always angry with the media in Basel because they were quite negative,” said Heusler.
“They did not see his positive skills. They would say he created a lot of chances but did not score. You would certainly laugh if you saw some of those comments now.
“When you saw him, what you noticed is he was not always moving. He would not be in the game but then he would explode. Some of our scouts wondered if this style could really work in a player.
“But teams discovered it was very dangerous to attack us. I remember a game in St Petersburg in the Europa League where they were in panic in defence because they had to be so careful with him. They knew if we kicked the ball into their half, he would get to it. His performances helped us to the semi-final of the Europa League that year.
“He developed his game and what he has now is unbelievable efficiency. In Switzerland he created through his speed and his