Mohamed Salah becomes indispensable as the Liverpool star shakes the world of football.
Mohamed Salah has been in excellent scoring form since joining Liverpool and this has made him to be touted as the one of the greatest players having played in the EPL.
According to Egypt’s BBC World Service John Bennett and BBC’s Sport journalist Neil Johnson: “Whenever I walk in here, I can’t help but recall how he used to move and the way he controlled the ball. It was something else.”
Mohamed Salah was very instrumental to Liverpool winning the EPL in May, with the prolific f0rward eventually winning the player of the season award.
Salah Is A Role Model For All Kids
From a small farming village of Nagrig in the Egyptian Nile Delta is located swathes of green field, growing jasmine and watermelon. Donkeys, cows and water buffalos play dirty and barely accessible roads with vehicles, motorcycles and horse-wheeled carts.
This is where one of the world’s best and most prolific forwards, handsomely recognised as ‘Egyptian King’, lived his early years.
“Salah’s family is the foundation and secret behind his success,” adds El-Saadany, who describes himself as Salah’s first coach at the age of eight.
“They still live here with humility, values and respect. That’s one reason people love them so much.”
The academy has been upgraded recently in paying a tribute to the community which provides a well-known son, and the turf would not look off place at a professional training ground.
“They [Salah’s family] made many sacrifices when he was young,” says El-Saadany.
Mohamed Salah Becomes Indispensable
“They were incredibly supportive from the very beginning, especially his father and his uncle, who is actually chairman of this centre.”
Salah’s legacy is found everywhere in Nagrig, where children run around wearing Salah’s Liverpool and Egypt jersey with his name and number on them.
There is a statue of Salah in front of his school, while a tuk-tuk rushes past keeping its horn with a huge sticker of the player wearing a jubilant face.
At the centre of Nagrig is the barber’s shop where a teenage Salah would always his hair cut after training.
“I’m the one who gave him that curly hairstyle and the beard,” says Ahmed El Masri.
“His friends told him not to get his hair cut here because we’re from a village not a city, but he’d always come to me. The next day his friends would be surprised [at how good he looked] and ask him ‘who’s your barber?’.”
The barber remembers watching Salah’s skills at the academy and in the nooks and crannies of the village.
“The big thing I remember most is that when we all played PlayStation, Salah would always choose to be Liverpool,” he adds.
“The other boys would choose Manchester United or Barcelona, but he’d always be Liverpool.
“All the young kids now living in the village want to be like him.” Salah’s football education included a six-year spell at Cairo-based club Arab Contractors, also known as Al Mokawloon.
Mohamed Salah Becomes Indispensable
Salah joined at when he was 14 and the story of him being given the permission to leave school early to make daily round trips, taking several hours out, to train and play for Arab Contractors has turned out to be legendary within Egypt and beyond.
Carved By a well-Known Bus Ride
This is not a usual bus service which runs on a timetable. In fact, the driver can only leave or move the bus when filled up.
As a teen this bus stop happened to be where Salah began his long journey to training at Arab Contractors.
“It was a tough journey and also incredibly expensive,” El-Saadany says.
“He depended on himself and travelled alone most of the time. Imagine a child leaving at 10am and not returning until midnight.
That journey required someone strong; only someone with a clear goal could bear such a burden.”
When there is a jump-up on the bus, we got tightened up at the back behind a mother and her two sons and we head towards a city called Basyoun, the first stop on Salah’s regular journey to the city of Cairo.
He would also jump on another bus to Tanta, before changing again to reach Ramses bus station in Cairo where there was another switch before eventually getting to his destination.
After the evening training sessions, there came the same long trip back to Nagrig and the same constant changes in reverse.
“These vehicles handle around 80% of commuters in a city home to over 10 million people,” Egyptian journalist Wael El- Sayed explains.
Mohamed Salah Becomes Indispensable
“There are thousands of these vans working 24/7.”
Journeys to Basyoun is usually difficult in hot and uncomfortable weather at the back of the bus, so one can only imagine how tough much longer journeys can be for a teenage boy like Salah.
The coach who gave Salah his first international appearance believes such experiences have helped prepare the player with the strength and mental health to deal and excel at the top level.
“To start as a football player here in Egypt is very hard,” says Hany Ramzy.
Ramzy was part of the Egypt side that faced England
Driving into Cairo on one of the most congested bridges, a large electronic billboard switching from an ice cream advert to an image of Salah next to the Arabic word ‘skukran,’ meaning ‘thank you.’
Waiting at close to the office us Diaa El-sayed, one of the most influential coaches in Salah’s early career. He was the coach when Salah made his first impact on the global stage, at the 2011 Under-20 World Cup in Colombia.
“The country wasn’t stable, there was a revolution, so preparing for the tournament was tough for us,” says the man everyone calls ‘Captain Diaa’.
“Salah came with us and the first thing that stood out was his speed and that he was always concentrating. He’s gone far because he listens so well, no arguments with anyone, always listening and working, listening and working. He deserves what he has.”
Mohamed Salah Becomes Indispensable
‘Captain Diaa’ recalls telling a young Salah to stay away from his own penalty area and just concentrate on attacking.
“I told him, ‘don’t defend, why are you in our box? You can’t defend!’.
“After Liverpool won the Premier League title last season, I heard him saying Arne Slot tells him not to defend. But I was the first coach who told him not to defend.”
There is a mural of Salah erected outside a café in Cairo Egypt’s greatest ambassador.
Mohamed Salah has appeared for the senior national tea, for 14 years and is very important for Egypt in a way that senior government officials have always been worried when he is injured.
“I even had calls from Egypt’s Minister of Health,” recalls Dr. Mohamed Aboud, the national team’s medic, about Salah’s injury during the 2018 UEFA Champions League final against Real Madrid.
“I told him not to panic, everything is going well.” Speaking from his medical clinic in the Maadi area of Egypt’s capital, Dr. Aboud adds: “I was younger and the pressure from inside the country was intense.
“I had calls from so many people trying to help. One of our board members told me I was now one of the most important people in the whole world.
“This situation changed me as a person.”
As recorded, Salah eventually recovered to play in two of Egypt’s three group stage matches but could not prevent the country from exiting after losing to Uruguay, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
“I need to tell you that Salah was involved in every single goal in our 2018 World Cup qualification campaign,” says former Egypt assistant coach Mahmoud Fayez.
Mohamed Salah Becomes Indispensable
Salah had converted 95th-minute penalty against Congo in Alexandria to ensure a victory to book Egypt’s place at the World Cup, with just one qualifying match to go for the first time in 28 years.
In a tense game, Salah scored the first goal for Egypt before DR Congo levelled three minutes from time.
“Do you know when you can listen to silence? I listened to the silence when Congo scored – 75,000 fans and silence everywhere,” adds Fayez.
Afterwards came a penalty which made Salah a national hero.
“Imagine it, a nation of nearly 120 million waiting for this moment to qualify,” says Fayez.
“”He had the toughest and most difficult moment for one player, a penalty in the 95th minute that Mohamed had to score.
“He scored it and he made us all proud. In the dressing room afterwards he started to dance, hug everyone and he was shouting ‘we did it, we did it’, after 28 years, we did it.”
In Cairo, there is a football academy called ‘The Maker’, founded and run by former Egyptian and Tottenham forward and Mido, whose effort is to produce more players like Salah.
“I played for the national team in front of 110,000 people when I was only 17, the youngest player to represent Egypt,” Mido says.
“I love to feel that people depend on me and Salah is the same.” At the time of our visit, a classroom lesson for young players about the mindset required to become a top professional is taking place.
“Underneath Salah’s name on a whiteboard, one of the coaches as written “discipline, dedication and motivation”.
Mohamed Salah Becomes Indispensable
“The reason Salah is where he is now is because he works on his mental strength daily,” Mido adds.
“He is the greatest ambassador for Egypt and for African players as well. He made European clubs respect Arab players, this is what Salah has done.
“I think a lot of European clubs now, when they see a young player from Egypt, they think of Salah. He has made our young players dream.”
Giving Back To The Origin
G0ing back to Nagrig and we met Rashida, a 70-year-old woman who sells vegetables from a small store, she talks about how Salah has been helpful to her life and the lives of others in the village where he was born and raised.
“Mohamed is a good man. He’s respectful and kind, he’s like a brother to us,” Rashida says.
She happens to be one of so many people in the village who have benefitted from the impact of Salah’s philanthropy, which gives back to where his journey started from.
“The aim is to help orphans, divorced and widowed women, the poor, and the sick,” says Hassan Bakr from the Mohamed Salah Charity Foundation.
“It provides monthly support, meals and food boxes on holidays and special occasions. For example [with Rashida] there’s a supplement to the pension a widow receives.
Mohamed Salah Becomes Indispensable
“When Mohamed is here he stays humble, walking around in normal clothes, never showing off. People love him because of his modesty and kindness.”
As well as the charity impacting people’s lives, Salah has also financed a new post office to serve the community, religious institute, an ambulance unit and has provided land for sewage station, so many more.
Last season, when Liverpool won the English Premier League trophy, equally Manchester United’s record, fans showed up at a local café in Nagraj to watch TV and celebrate the village well-known son.
Despite being pivotal to Liverpool winning their 20th title in 2019/20, Salah is yet to win a cup with the national team.
Recalling generations before Salah, they won three Africa Cup of Nations titles in consecutively between 2006 and 2010. Since then, the country has experienced two losses in finals─one against Cameroon in 2017 and Senegal in 2022 respectively.
With the 2025 African Cup of Nations commencing on 21 December─less than three months from now─many Egyptians will be expecting their main man to deliver international trophy to them.
“Salah has already done his legacy. He’s the greatest Egyptian footballer in our history,” says Mido.
“He doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone, he’s a legend for Liverpool and a legend for Egypt.”
Mohamed Salah Becomes Indispensable
