Mohamed Salah joined Liverpool in the summer of 2017 after being judged a disappointment at Chelsea a few years earlier. By May 2018, he had scored 32 Premier League goals, a record for a 38-game season at the time.
The Egyptian winger’s first season at Anfield was one of the most remarkable debut seasons in English football. He won the Golden Boot, the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award and the Football Writers’ award, and Liverpool reached the Champions League final.
From Nagrig to Europe
Salah was born in 1992 in Nagrig, a village in Egypt’s Nile Delta. As a teenager, he travelled for hours each way to train with Al Mokawloon in Cairo. His performances earned him a move to Basel in Switzerland, then to Chelsea in 2014, where he struggled for playing time. Loans to Fiorentina and a move to Roma in Italy revived his career.
The record season
At Liverpool, playing in Jürgen Klopp’s attacking system alongside Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino, Salah was unstoppable. His pace, left foot and finishing produced goals in every competition. His 32 league goals broke the Premier League record for a 38-game season, a mark later surpassed by Erling Haaland.
The final
The season ended in heartbreak. In the 2018 Champions League final against Real Madrid, Salah was injured after a challenge from Sergio Ramos and left the field in tears. Liverpool lost. The injury also affected his World Cup that summer with Egypt.
Champions
A year later, Liverpool won the Champions League, beating Tottenham in the 2019 final, with Salah scoring a penalty in the second minute. In 2020, Liverpool won the Premier League, ending a thirty-year wait for the league title. They won the league again in 2025, with Salah among the key players.
A national hero
In Egypt, Salah is a national hero. He led Egypt to the 2018 World Cup, their first for 28 years. He is known for donations to his home village, including funding for a school, a hospital facility and other projects.
At Anfield, fans sing songs about him, and his celebrations, including kneeling in prayer, have made him a visible figure of Muslim faith in English football. Studies have even suggested his popularity contributed to reduced Islamophobic incidents in Liverpool.
African records
Salah has been named African Footballer of the Year and has set records for goals by an African player in the Premier League.
Chelsea once let him go. Liverpool fans now call him the Egyptian King.
