Found this article someone posted on Reddit.
Jonathan Northcroft from The Times
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mohammed-salah-builds-hospitals-feeds-the-poor-boosts-egypts-economy-qtx65dkkxZamalek, Egypt’s “Royal Team”, were above signing Mohamed Salah. Mamdouh Abbas, their former president, sniffed “he needs lots of work” when rejecting a transfer in 2011. Salah took it well. And is not forgetful. Three weeks ago, he brought a special guest all the way to Anfield, to see him play — and, naturally, score — against Chelsea. Abbas.
Those who know Salah say he is two things: incredibly generous and quietly, wickedly humorous. Perhaps both were behind the invitation but what is sure is that Zamalek rue not having a footballer there is an argument for terming the most important in the world. Jurgen Klopp is thankful Liverpool’s scouting department “didn’t get out of our ears” about the player. “It was 100%, he is ready, he is ready,” remembers Klopp. “And that’s how it looks now.”
Salah arrived having “failed” at Chelsea in a 12-month stint from January 2014. Now he is top scorer in England and African Footballer of the Year. No outfield player has played more league minutes (1,284) for Liverpool in 2017-18 and he is the exception to Klopp’s rotation policy.
It is not the first time Salah has surprised the doubters and justified the scouts. In March 2012 he was 19 and at the modest Cairo club El Mokawloon when the Egyptian league was suspended after the Port Said stadium disaster. At the same time Basel faced a quandary. The previous month they’d agreed to sell Xherdan Shaqiri to Bayern Munich. “Shaqiri was the big star, everybody’s darling. We were under pressure to find a spectacular player and discussed targets with the scouting department,” says Basel’s ex-sporting director, Georg Heitz. “Yeah, this Egyptian’s interesting they said. Then I saw him and I was amazed.”
Basel invited Egypt’s Olympic team to play a friendly against their first XI. “Salah played 45 minutes and scored two goals. We said ‘OK.’” The doubts were about Salah settling in and nobody at the club could communicate with him. “But he was a very open person. Very humble and intelligent. After two months he spoke English fluently,” Heitz says.
Salah turned out to “be firstly a funny guy — he makes lots of friends” and Murat Yakin, then Basel’s coach, used to say any training session involving Salah and Mohamed Elneny (who joined later) was better quality because their standards and work ethic rubbed off. The pair obliterated doubts in Swiss football about the suitability of Egyptian players and Salah and Heitz still text every week. Nor is Salah’s football forgotten at St Jakob-Park. “He played winger and his best skill was cutting in from the right to score with his left, like his goal against Everton, but there was a [Europa League] game against Zenit St Petersburg where we had a red card and he played as striker, by himself, causing panic in the whole St Petersburg team,” Heitz says. “It was amazing.”
Salah was set for Liverpool when a phone call from Jose Mourinho changed his mind, Heitz reveals. Salah had scored three goals against Chelsea in four European games but, having courted him, Mourinho wouldn’t trust him “and Mohamed needs confidence, a few hugs and strokes to feel happy,” says Heitz. “Klopp is a good choice for him as manager. You can see on his face how much he is enjoying his football now.”
Salah was only 21 and a new father during his year at Chelsea. Having not been given time for his life to settle, he joined the list of adventurous players — including Kevin De Bruyne, Arjen Robben, Andre Schurrle and Rafael Van der Vaart — Mourinho at some point jettisoned. It was at Roma, whom he joined after a loan to Fiorentina, that Salah leapt to another level. Luciano Spalletti, their coach, focused Salah on attacking spaces behind defences with his lightning running, also improving his strength and finishing.
He played off Edin Dzeko, who is open about how much he misses Salah, having scored 11 goals in 21 games this season compared with 39 in 51 games last year — when Salah provided 12 assists. Having scouted about 15 wide players since their 2014 near-miss with him, Liverpool’s recruiters pushed hard for Salah again from early 2017. “We knew we would get a very offensive-minded midfielder who is a lot of games a striker and has the ability to make goals — that’s the package we wanted,” Klopp says. “We watched a lot of games [for] his physicality. I met him at one point and he looks more [sturdy]. If you watch him only on television he looks quite skinny.”
The world’s most important footballer? First meet Salah the person: humble, retiring, soulful. Favourite English word? “Love.” Favourite noise? “The sound of my daughter.” Perfect day? “Stay at home, relax, don’t talk to anyone,” he said in a club channel Q&A. He avoids interviews but speaks through actions. In his rural home region he’s building a school and paid for an ambulance service and several hospital incubation units. He runs a charity, sends clothes and goes back to feed people in Ramadan. Recently, Egypt’s government needed quick currency to prop up the Egyptian pound and he donated £210,000.
He’s a kid from a small town who played football with a kora sharab (a ball made from socks) and a good Muslim, posting selfies reading the Koran on Liverpool away trips and praying when he scores. His daughter is Makka (Mecca) and his wife, Magi, is veiled. For Arabs he is a beautiful symbol, and for Egyptians a saviour. His nerveless penalty against Congo took Egypt to their first World Cup since 1990. “Words cannot explain it: 95th minute, 100,000 fans. He’s only 25. You could feel a pin drop when he walked to the ball . . . but we knew our lives were safe in his hands,” says Marwan Ahmed, of Egypt football website KingFut. An incredible 23 of Salah’s 32 Egypt goals, came in competitive games.
Egyptians fly in to watch Salah and the club produce a replica shirt with his name in Arabic. A burgeoning podcast, Oil Field Index, serves Arabian Liverpool fans. Its host, Hatem Kadous, an engaging Egypt-born London lawyer, explains Salah’s significance. “He was offered a villa for scoring that goal against Congo — he refused, saying ‘give the same amount of money to my village’. He didn’t celebrate against Chelsea because we’d just had a terrorist attack [killing 305 at a mosque]. He’s very engaged politically and will tweet whenever there’s stuff going on, tributes and peaceful messages. In this age of Islamophobia I’m pleased he hit the ground running, that it helped fans take to him,” Kadous says.
“He’s managed something no politician has ever done, he has managed to unite the Middle East. Moroccans, Tunisians, Saudis, Kuwaitis, Emiratis, Omanis — everyone wants a Salah shirt. I have Man United fans messaging me during games saying, ‘This is so hard for me, I don’t know what to do’. With Egypt, he’s carrying the hopes of 90m. We’re having terrorist attacks every week. Economic trouble. He’s the only thing keeping Egyptians happy. Go to any coffee shop in Cairo when Liverpool are playing . . . it’s amazing. For 90 minutes he unites the nation and makes us forget all the crap we’re going through. You don’t have to worry about revolutions, about Islamic Brotherhood, Isis, any of that.
“He scores, we’re happy, we forget. And that echoes round the Middle East. Messi doesn’t unite a nation, a region, right? Ronaldo doesn’t. They don’t have the social dimension.”
