Mo Salah

Mohamed Salah Hamed Ghaly



Date of Birth: 15th June 1992



Current Club: Liverpool.

Previous Clubs: AS Roma, Chelsea, Basel, El Mokawloon.

Loan Clubs: AS Roma, Fiorentina.





International: Egypt 113 caps 65 goals.

Trophies Won: African Footballer of the Year 2017, 2018. Premier League Footballer of the Year 2018, 2022, 2025. FIFA Puskas Award 2018. Premier League Golden Boot 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2021/22, 2024/25. UEFA Champions League 2018/19. English Premier League 2019/20, 2024/25. UEFA SuperCup 2019/20. FIFA Club World Cup 2020. English FA Cup 2022. English League Cup 2015, 2022, 2024. Community Shield 2022/23. Swiss League 2012/13, 2013/14.





Alongside Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, Salah for a period was part of the most feared front three in England, probably in the whole of Europe. He and Mane fed off Firmino, but individually they were also fearsome players in their own right, it was just together, with Firmino knitting it altogether, the trio were devastating. Salah's intense work to get himself up to a prime physical standard and to keep himself incredibly fit also helped to make him a special talent.



While a lot of the credit for the immense number of goals he scored can be placed at the feet of the tactics at Liverpool, as has been shown by this current season, he has been an exceptional player who became the prime goalscorer even though Mane had a similar role. It is also interesting to note that Salah, despite all the accusations of being greedy, also had more assists than Mane in their time together. To overshadow a player of the quality of Mane just shows how good Salah was.



He had pace in abundance, but it was more than pace and his quick feet around the box that made him special. He is strong as an ox and defenders usually just bounce off him when they try to challenge him fairly, which is why Salah is so often fouled, though referees rarely seem to notice the constant pulling he suffers. That strength is key to his ability to get his shots off.



It is the timing of his runs that was the biggest reason for his goal record, he knew he just had to wait until the right moment as he had the pace to ensure he could get to the ball before most defenders. Salah rarely went too early because of that, a sign of the intelligence he possesses that he realised this, as usually a fast player gets caught offside a lot more as they rarely have the patience to wait for the right time to move. Though, it must be said, great as he was, he was never without his flaws.



For starters, Salah was never clinical, he would always miss a lot of chances, more than you would expect given the number of goals he has racked up. Despite his high penalty scoring ratio, he has never been a great penalty taker, though he counters that with his lack of nerves - the higher the pressure, the more likely it seems he will score them. Another issue is that he is rarely effective against teams that have time to get their defence set, which puts bodies between him and the goal, as we have seen this season due to Liverpool's incredibly slow build up play.



To perform to his best, Salah needs a ball played up early, so that he can use that impeccable timing he possesses to make a run at the right time and catch a defence that is not set. This season, he has found himself up against packed defences and little in the way of options in the box to move them around and create any space to attack with the ball or to take a shot. When the full-back has offered an overlap option, Salah has looked much more dangerous again but that has only happened in the last few weeks, after the season has basically ended for Liverpool.



That is probably the saddest thing, that such a great career at LFC is to come to an end in such dire circumstances, with Salah having such a poor season by his standards, he still has a goal and assist total that is way beyond Bukaya Saka, for example. An acrimonious relationship with Arne Slot has also made things fractious, which has led to him being in and out of the side, something unthinkable before this season. The Egyptian King will still leave Liverpool as one of the greatest players to play in the Premier League era and will go with the thanks of all LFC fans.



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