Well what a first season this has been for Mo Salah The Egyptian King. To say it has come as a big surprise to many, if not all, fans is an understatement. He has truly lit up the Fields Of Anfield Road with his goals, his pace and his scintillating performances. An absolute bargain for £35m. A very good friend of mine who is an experienced scout and ex-professional footballer once said to me, “If Jurgen Klopp signs a player then you know he will be a good ‘un”. He also went on to say that we should not be surprised if we, as fans, did not know much about the player. Suffice it to say, if Klopp rates him then trust him.
Mo Salah The Egyptian King
Although not an unknown, Mo Salah was probably best remembered by Premier League for his unsuccessful spell at Chelsea. A subsequent move to Italy changed his fortunes. He initially went to Fiorentina on loan before signing for Roma. Initially on loan but then a permanent transfer followed. An impressive return of 29 Serie A League goals in 65 appearances for Roma put other European clubs on alert. Thankfully we were one of them.
Still only 25 he has many years ahead of him. A lot of plaudits have been poured down on him and he has been given a few new nicknames. Such as Mo Salah The Egyptian King. One very rarely mentioned plaudit (if mentioned at all) is that his exploits this season has deflected away from us selling Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona in January. No disrespect to the Little Magician by the way. But many pundits, “experts” and fans only saw doom and gloom after we sold Coutinho. Again, no disrespect to Coutinho, but we have not really missed him that much have we?
Not all down to Mo Salah The Egyptian King of course, but no doubt his exploits have taken us to a new level. Of course there has been massive contributions from all the squad. It isn’t all down to Salah. But, without his contribution, we may still be talking about and lamenting the departure of The Little Magician. Thanks for that Mo. And thanks for the enjoyment you have given us so far this season.
Chelsea’s Loss
In last night’s pulsating Champions League Quarter Final against Champions elect, Manchester City, Mo scored his almost obligatory goal. He proceeded to torture Man City’s left back Laporte for the whole of the first 45 minutes. Unfortunately for us but fortunately for City and Laporte in particular, Salah departed early the fray early in the second half with a groin strain. A precaution or something worse? All Liverpool fans hope it is only a slight twinge and he will be OK for the second leg. Manchester City and all of our other remaining opponents of course will wish something different.
Why Chelsea’s loss? Arguably the two best players in the country at the moment, Salah and City’s Kevin De Bruyne faced each other last night. Salah signed for Chelsea in 2014 for around £12m from Basel. We were interested in signing him then but we didn’t offer any more than £8m apparently. Things didn’t work out for Salah at Chelsea. hence the move to Serie A.
Don’t forget that Chelsea also had Kevin De Bruyne at their disposal between 2012 and 2014. Incredible as it seems now, he only made 3 League appearances for Chelsea. He is truly a top quality player.
Our Gain
No need to feel sorry for Chelsea though. Their loss has undoubtedly been our gain. Understandably the fans all around The Fields Of Anfield Road love him to bits. As this short video I took at last night’s game will testify….
One other thing we all love about Mo Salah The Egyptian King, is that he truly appears to be a very humble and down to earth man. Oh, and in this day and age of divers (Harry Kane and Dele Alli?) he does look to stay on his feet. A really fantastic signing for us. We hope we have many more years to enjoy Mo Salah The Egyptian King at his spiritual home of The Fields Of Anfield Road.
More on last night’s game – another Famous Anfield European Nights – HERE.
