10 Things You Didn't Know About Mohamed Salah

Mohamed Salah isn't just Liverpool's star man. He's one of the best players in the world, and one of the greatest African footballers of all time. Here are 10 things you didn't know about the Egyptian attacker. Jurgen Klopp didn't want to sign him. Mo Salah's one of Liverpool's greatest ever signings. He was a bargain at £36.5 million in the summer of 2017. Without their Egyptian king, the Reds might not have won the Premier League and the Champions League. Jurgen Klopp deserves credit for getting the best out of Salah. He's helped him achieve his potential at Anfield. But if Klopp had had his way originally, Salah would never have come to Liverpool. According to German journalist Raphael Hörnigstein, Klopp wanted to buy Julian Brandt instead. In the end, Michael Edwards, Liverpool's sporting director, persuaded him to go for Salah. The rest is history. He defeated a presidential candidate. To say that Salah is popular in Egypt would be, an understatement. He's idolized by millions and receives a hero's welcome whenever he returns home. His status as a national icon goes far beyond football, though. In the 2018 presidential election, more than a million Egyptians crossed out the names of the two candidates and wrote Salah's name on the ballot paper instead. Unfortunately, those votes didn't count, though. If they had, Salah would have finished second in a presidential race he didn't even enter. Let's just say, if he does choose to go into politics in the future, Salah won't be short of support. He's helped to fight Islamophobia. According to a 2018 study by Stanford University, Liverpool's signing of Salah led to an 18.9% drop in the number of hate crimes in the Merseyside area. Meanwhile, the number of anti-Muslim tweets posted by the club's supporters halved in the year after his arrival. Salah has broken the barriers of negative perceptions that the fans and general public hold about the Muslim community, said Moomin Khan, the head of England's first mosque. Salah is a devout Muslim who performs the sujood, the act of bowing down in prayer after he scores. He's been doing the gesture an awful lot in recent years. He clashed with Jose Mourinho. Salah's first game at Anfield came three years before he signed for Liverpool. In April 2014, he was in the Chelsea team that beat the Reds 2-0, with Steven Gerrard's slip proving fatal to Liverpool's title chances. Salah only started six Premier League games for Chelsea. He moved to Stamford Bridge in January 2014, but was never able to establish himself in the first team. Jose Mourinho was the Chelsea manager back then. It's fair to say that he and Salah didn't always see eye to eye. Mourinho once publicly criticised the Egyptian and André Schürrle after a cup game against Shrewsbury. He said the two players had let him down and hadn't done enough to force their way into his first-choice team. Just like Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, Salah slipped through Chelsea's fingertips. Record-breaking debut season at Liverpool. After his disappointing spell at Chelsea, some wondered whether Salah would be a hit at Liverpool. The Egyptian had done brilliantly in Serie A with Fiorentina and Roma, but the Premier League was considered another step up. Salah silenced the doubters in sensational fashion. His debut season at Liverpool was magnificent. He set two new records in a 38-game Premier League season by notching 32 goals and scoring in 24 different matches. He also set several club records, including the most goals in a debut season, 44 in total, and the most player of the month awards, 7. Ultimate hat-trick hero We've already established that Salah is a world-class goalscorer. But if you're still not convinced, here's some more evidence. When Liverpool thrashed Man Utd 5-0 in October 2021, Salah became the first visiting player to score a Premier League hat-trick at Old Trafford. He was also the first Liverpool player to net a treble at United's home ground since Fred Howe in 1936. That was five years before Alex Ferguson was even born. On top of that, Salah has become the first visiting player to score in three consecutive appearances at Old Trafford. There's no better way to endear yourself to Liverpool fans than that. He helped a thief who burgled his family It's a sad fact of life that footballers' homes often get targeted by thieves. It's happened many times in England and goes on in Egypt too. When Salah was away playing in Alexandria, his family home was burgled. The police caught the culprit two days later, and Salah's father wanted to press charges against him. That was until his son intervened. Salah persuaded his dad to drop the charges. He then contacted the thief and gave him some money to help him out of a tough situation. He even tried to help him find a job. Salah showed compassion and humility. As good as he is on the pitch, he's not just adored for his footballing He does fantastic charity work. Salah grew up as an ordinary kid in Egypt. He revealed a bit about his upbringing in an interview in 2013. My family's like any other family. We're not rich. We're not poor. We're just okay, and I like it that way. We have a simple life. There's nothing special about it. Salah's never forgotten where he came from. Football has made him rich, but he's used his wealth and status to help those who are less fortunate than him. Salah has funded anti-poverty projects in his hometown of Nagreg. The money he's given has been used to build schools and hospitals in the local area. He also provides monthly allowances to 450 Egyptian families who need financial support, and he's advocated for women's equality in the Middle East. John Oliver, a British comedian and lifelong Liverpool fan, said it best. Most Salah's a better human being than he is a football player, and he's one of the best football players in the world. He's part of the school curriculum. Salah funds schools in Egypt, but that's not the only way he helps children in his home country. The national icon has been added to the Egyptian school curriculum to help inspire kids to achieve their dreams. Youngsters learn about Salah's journey from Nagreg to Liverpool, via Cairo, Basel, London, Florence, and Rome. Older pupils focus on Salah's achievements off the field, including his charity work, his generosity towards others, and his humble personality. An excerpt from one textbook reads, Salah's desire to help others is because he wants to give young people a chance to succeed. He's a role model to millions of Egyptians, who give him the nickname, the happiness maker. He played with his footballing idol. Every aspiring footballer has one or two players they look up to. Salah was no different, but unlike most of us, he went on to play with his footballing hero. When asked by CNN who his idols were, Salah replied, I've said it before many times, the Brazilian Ronaldo and Francesco Totti. Salah was never able to share a pitch with Ronaldo, but he did play alongside Totti for Roma between 2015 and 17. He's unbelievable, the Egyptian king said about the king of Rome. He's quality, both as a person and a player. He's calm, which is great, but he has a very quiet confidence. I learned a lot from him. What's your favorite Mo Salah fact? Let us know in the comments section and don't forget to subscribe for more football content.