AN Egyptian hero and living legend in Liverpool, Mohamed Salah has burnished his remarkable legacy at Anfield with one of the great all-time individual seasons to deliver the Premier League title.
The 32-year-old has scored 28 goals and provided 18 assists so far as Liverpool equalled Manchester United’s record of 20 English top-flight titles on Sunday.
A third player of the year award from both his fellow players and football writers appears a formality, with Salah now firmly in the debate over who is the greatest player of the Premier League era.
His combined total of 46 goals and assists is a new Premier League record for a 38-game season and the all-time mark of 47 looks likely to fall before the season is out.
Salah’s tally of 185 goals in the English top flight is the fifth highest in Premier League history and he is in the top 10 for assists.
The forward did not arrive at Anfield as a superstar when Liverpool paid Roma £34 million ($45 million) for his services in 2017.
A pacy winger with promise, he had struggled for consistency and end product since making the move from his homeland to Swiss side Basel as a 19-year-old.
Salah failed to make the grade in his first spell in the Premier League at Chelsea and the Blues discarded him after just 19 games in what proved to be a monumental mistake.
The forward spent loan spells at Fiorentina and Roma before he joined Roma on a permanent basis.
His performances there restored Salah’s reputation and tempted Liverpool into taking a punt on his potential, even if he was not Jurgen Klopp’s first choice.
The German manager had wanted his compatriot Julian Brandt instead, but was convinced by the club’s recruitment team and together they helped restore the Reds to the top of English and European football.
Klopp did not take long to be convinced as Salah scored 44 times in a stunning debut season, leading Liverpool to the Champions League final and a top-four Premier League finish.
‘Iconic figure’
He was quickly christened as “The Egyptian King” on Merseyside and soon the trophies stacked up.
Salah left the 2018 Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid in tears after being forced off by a shoulder injury in the first half, which also limited his impact for Egypt at the World Cup just weeks later.
One year on, he scored in the Champions League final as Liverpool beat Tottenham 2-0 to deliver the first silverware of the Klopp era.
The club’s first Premier League title for 30 years followed in 2020, with an FA Cup and two League Cups subsequently added to the trophy cabinet, plus another run to the Champions League final.
Salah was named in Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in 2019, described as an “iconic figure for Egyptians, Scousers and Muslims the world over”.
Salah has used that profile to call for greater gender equality in the Arab world and to appeal for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza following Israeli air strikes in October 2023.
However, he has mostly done his talking on the field.
A fitness fanatic, Salah regularly posts images of his workouts on social media, which he credits for enabling him to remain among the world’s elite despite his advancing years.
Klopp’s emotional departure last year was seen by many as the end of an era for this Liverpool side.
Instead, in Arne Slot’s first season, Salah has been the catalyst for an unexpected cruise to the Premier League title.
“It’s not a coincidence because the first day I arrived over here, we did a fitness test and he was our fittest player,“ said Slot.
“So it tells you what his plans were for the season. It also tells you a lot about his personality.”
