Mohamed Salah: Magician, monster, marvel

AFC BournemouthArsenalAston VillaBrentfordBrighton & Hove AlbionBurnleyChelseaCrystal PalaceEvertonFulhamLeeds UnitedLiverpoolManchester CityManchester UnitedNewcastle UnitedNottingham ForestSunderlandTottenham HotspurWest Ham UnitedWolverhampton WanderersScores & ScheduleStandingsFantasyThe Athletic FC NewsletterPodcastsMohamed Salah leaves Liverpool as an all-time Premier League great Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images Share articleMohamed Salah’s nine-year love affair with Liverpool is at an end. One of the Premier League’s all-time greats says goodbye to Anfield on Sunday and does so having established himself as one of the club’s favourite adopted sons, courtesy of an astonishing goalscoring record and glittering trophy haul. This week, The Athletic has been analysing Salah’s legacy. You can read about his transfer from Roma revolutionised football recruitment here, and about his wider social and cultural impact as the most famous Muslim footballer on the planet here. Now, James Pearce speaks to those who know him best about what made him so special, on and off the field. “A mentality to beat the opponent, over and over again. Runs, dribbles, combinations. Anfield standing up the moment he received the ball. Because at any moment, some chaos could lead to a memory.” The Dutch coach worked with Salah for nearly seven years at Liverpool before leaving the club at the end of the Jurgen Klopp era in the summer of 2024. He’s spent this season as Pep Guardiola’s No 2 at Manchester City, having previously had a spell in charge of Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg. “Memories are the only thing that keeps us all together now,” Lijnders adds. “All those times where games got decided by an incredible piece of magic and Anfield chanted his name. Legacy is only created by a few. Stories are only written by a few. Records only belong to a few. “It all happened because of togetherness, connection and team play, which gave Mo the freedom to shine. And, my God, did he shine.” Salah’s trophy cabinet in his Cheshire home lays bare the extraordinary impact he’s had on Merseyside over the past nine years. The Egyptian forward is the only player in history to have won the Professional Footballers’ Association Players’ Player of the Year award three times, and he has four Premier League Golden Boots, a tally only matched by Thierry Henry. With 257 goals in all competitions, he sits third in Liverpool’s all-time scorers list behind Ian Rush (346) and Roger Hunt (285). Only Alan Shearer (260), Harry Kane (213) and Wayne Rooney (208) have been more prolific than Salah (193) in the Premier League era. Not bad for a player written off in some quarters as unable to handle the demands of English football as he relaunched his career in Italy at Fiorentina and then Roma following a disappointing spell at Chelsea. “When Mo arrived in the summer of 2017, there was all that talk about him being a Premier League flop,” recalls former Liverpool goalkeeping coach John Achterberg. “People were questioning why we had broken our transfer record to sign him. They ignored the fact that he had barely had a chance at Chelsea and had then done brilliantly in Serie A. “My first thought when I saw him train for the first time was, ‘Wow, he’s rapid’. He had everything you want to see from a wide forward: quick feet, aggression, intensity, never giving defenders any respite. It was soon clear that he was obsessed with scoring goals and being the best he could be.” Salah scored on his debut in a 3-3 draw at Watford and never looked back. He marked his first Merseyside derby with a goal of such beauty that it earned him FIFA’s Puskas award. He had shrugged off Cuco Martina and then darted away from Idrissa Gueye before finding the top corner. The Kop anointed him in song as their Egyptian King. Liverpool sold Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona midway through the season, but the Brazilian’s absence wasn’t felt as Salah just kept on delivering. The front three of Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane contributed 91 goals between them in 2017-18. “At times it was PlayStation football,” Achterberg adds. “That iconic trio were relentless and it was a joy to watch. It’s no coincidence that the club’s global fanbase grew around that time. Mo was a big reason why so many more people were drawn to supporting the club. “Jurgen pushed the players hard but Mo didn’t need any pushing. He was always in the gym. Along with Hendo (Jordan Henderson) and Millie (James Milner), he set the standards and helped create such a special culture. Mo invested so much time and energy into improving every facet of his game. He was always pretty calm in the dressing room — not a screamer or shouter, but someone who led by example.” After scoring 44 goals in all competitions (only Rush, with 47 in 1983-84, had ever been more prolific for Liverpool), Salah’s debut campaign ended with the agony of the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid in Kyiv. He left the field in tears before the break after being dumped on his shoulder by Sergio Ramos. Salah vowed to return to the biggest stage in club football and was true to his word. Twelve months later, he was sitting in the dressing room in Madrid looking at images on his phone of the heartache he had endured at the hands of Ramos as he prepared to walk out to face Tottenham Hotspur. When Klopp’s side were awarded an early penalty, Salah stepped up and hammered it past Hugo Lloris. Divock Origi’s goal late on ensured Liverpool were crowned champions of Europe for the sixth time. “It was so fitting that Mo had that moment in Madrid after what happened to him in Kyiv,” Liverpool chairman Tom Werner tells The Athletic. “I know he had been practising penalties all week and had decided what side he was going to go if we got one in the final, but as he ran up, he changed his mind at the last moment. It was struck with such force that the goalkeeper didn’t have a chance.” After missing the first penalty of his Liverpool career against Huddersfield Town in October 2017, Salah left no stone unturned in his attempts to improve his technique. Before each game, analyst James French would put together clips of the five previous penalties the opposition goalkeeper had faced. Salah would also turn to Achterberg for advice. “Mo would say to me: ‘Is there a weakness with this ’keeper? Where am I best putting it?’  It might be the case that I thought the keeper’s stance was too wide, which was going to prevent him from getting down low to one of the bottom corners. “He just wanted as much information as possible. It was about giving him confidence. Millie told him he needed to put more power behind his penalties, and he certainly did with the one in Madrid.” Salah has scored 46 of the 56 penalties he’s taken for Liverpool with an 82 per cent success rate. Out of players who have taken 20 or more spot kicks for the club, only Steven Gerrard (83 per cent) and Jan Molby (93 per cent) boast a better conversion rate. In winning the Premier League Golden Boot in 2017-18, Salah’s 32 league goals broke the record for a 38-game season. Remarkably, he also outscored three top-flight clubs in Huddersfield (28), Swansea City (28) and West Bromwich Albion (31). He managed 27 the following league campaign, too, ensuring he shared the Golden Boot with Mane and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. He missed the most remarkable game of the season, the historic Champions League semi-final second leg comeback against Barcelona, due to concussion, but he helped set the tone by turning up at Anfield in a T-shirt with the slogan ‘Never Give Up’ on the front. His durability was extraordinary. During his first six seasons at Liverpool, he missed just 10 league matches and two of them were due to his involvement in the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). A strict regime included daily yoga and meditation, and a diet of fruit, vegetables, grilled fish, chicken and salad as he avoided processed foods. As well as a gym and a pool, his house was equipped with cryotherapy and hyperbaric (oxygen) chambers to aid recovery. “Mo has always taken a lot of care with his body,” says Vitor Matos, the former Liverpool coach now in charge of Swansea City. “His house is full of equipment. That’s why he’s been so consistent and nearly always available. “What impressed me most was how he trained every day. Seeing him doing finishing drills was something else. So calm and composed. He loves to compete. If it’s a small-sided game, he loves to win — and Mo won most of the time! “He always wanted to know about the defenders he was facing: how they play, any area where he could find a weakness. He understands the game so well and is so smart. “I remember one time against Chelsea, he was up against Antonio Rudiger. Mo knew him quite well having played together (at Roma) and knew he was aggressive. Mo’s plan was to engage in the first action to make sure that he knew he was there. He knew how to protect himself and how to anticipate situations — how to drive a player to one side to open up the other side. He has so much intuition.” A keen chess and backgammon player, Salah also dominated when it came to the inter-squad table tennis competitions during pre-season camps. Over the years, he has advised many of the club’s youngsters about their diet, gym regimes and recovery plans. “Just the other day, we had some boys from the youth team who are out injured watching the first team in terms of how they prepare before training in the gym,” says Liverpool academy director Alex Inglethorpe. “Mo was straight over to them, asking their names, asking which positions they play, telling them how important they are to the future of the club, and how important it is that they do everything right to give them the best possible chance of coming through to the senior setup and making their mark. I thought that was a special thing to do. To not only take the time to speak to them but to ensure the message was on point like that.” Young right-back Luca Stephenson, who spent this season on loan at Dundee United, is among those to have benefited from Salah’s input. “Mo’s been really good for me,” he said. “When you play with somebody of that quality, you just feed off what he does for you. Arguably, the best right-winger in the world giving you help is huge.” There was a high-profile spat with Mane during a win over Burnley at Turf Moor in August 2019 when the Senegal international took exception to Salah not passing to him. Team-mates and staff insist that relations between the pair were soon repaired. Speaking to reporters on his return to Liverpool for a legends match in March, Klopp said: “The time with Mo and Sadio together, they were a challenge, of course they were. Special players are a challenge. Tell me one who is not? The real difference-makers. The one who wasn’t by the way was Bobby Firmino!” More significant in 2019-20 was the sight of Salah running half the length of Anfield to score against Manchester United in front of the Kop en route to Liverpool ending their 30-year wait for the league title. When the wheels came off amid a defensive injury crisis the following campaign, Salah’s return of 31 goals in all competitions helped ensure that Champions League qualification was salvaged. His game evolved. Having contributed 43 assists across his first four seasons at Liverpool, the next four yielded 67. Whatever was lost in terms of acceleration was more than compensated for by shrewd decision-making and his ability to create space and opportunities for others. Salah’s double act with Trent Alexander-Arnold down the right flank was integral to a breathtaking 2021-22 season as Klopp’s side won both domestic cups, missed out on the Premier League title by a point to Manchester City and lost the Champions League final to Real Madrid in Paris. “My favourite memories with Mo are probably the connection we had on the pitch,” Alexander-Arnold tells The Athletic. “A lot of the time we didn’t even need to speak; it just felt natural. Almost telepathic at times. He knew when I got the ball where it was going to go and I knew the runs he was going to make. It was a special understanding.” There was a period in October 2021 when it felt like Salah was having a goal of the season competition with himself. Glorious efforts against Manchester City and Watford were followed by a match-winning double against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League and a hat-trick in a 5-0 rout of Manchester United at Old Trafford. He scored 14 times during a stunning 10-game stretch and ended up sharing the Premier League Golden Boot with Tottenham’s Son Heung-min. “There are so many things that make Mo special,” Alexander-Arnold adds. “Obviously, everyone sees the goals, the records, the trophies, but for me, his work ethic is the best I’ve ever seen. The standards he sets for himself are unbelievable. “What people may not see as much is the person he is away from football. For someone who is such a global superstar, he’s incredibly humble, grounded and caring. Honestly, one of the most humble people I’ve met. He takes a genuine interest in other people and their lives. He cares about you as a person first. “On the pitch, he’s a monster and an ultimate winner. But off it, he’s someone who sets an example in the way he treats people and carries himself every day. I consider him a really close friend. He’s like family to me.” The first contract saga of his Liverpool career ended with Salah signing a new three-year deal in the summer of 2022, becoming the highest-paid player in the club’s history on around £400,000 per week. There were highlights that season — including the fastest Champions League hat-trick in history (six minutes and 12 seconds in a 7-1 win over Rangers) — but despite another 30-goal haul, he couldn’t prevent Klopp’s side from losing their place among Europe’s elite as they finished fifth. Strong interest in Salah from the Saudi Pro League resulted in Liverpool rejecting an offer of £150million from Al Ittihad on deadline day in September 2023. He stayed for what proved to be Klopp’s final season at the helm. Relations with the manager became strained. Salah’s mood wasn’t helped by a hamstring injury, which cut short his involvement in AFCON as he struggled to regain sharpness on his return to action. Angry at being left out of the side to face West Ham United in April 2024, there was a heated exchange with Klopp on the touchline at the London Stadium as he waited to come on. Salah told reporters post-match: “There’s going to be fire today if I speak.” Addressing his relationship with Salah, Klopp said in March: “We both know that we had these arguments, not big arguments. Like the one at West Ham, both of us five seconds later would have thought: ‘No, we don’t do that in public, come on, rewind.’  Next morning, it was already over but it happened in public. We never lost respect for each other and that is what I really like. “He didn’t like me for a second when I took him off after 87 minutes and all these kinds of things, and you think: ‘Why?’ Rotating Mo was difficult. I’d be like: ‘You cannot play three games a week.’ And Mo would be: ‘Yeah, I can.’ You always walk on the edge in these moments.” The appointment of Arne Slot as Klopp’s successor coincided with a resurgent Salah producing one of the greatest individual seasons in the history of English football in 2024-25. He won both the Premier League Golden Boot with 29 league goals (34 in all competitions) and the Playmaker award after contributing 18 league assists (23 in all competitions) In doing so, he broke the record for most goal involvements over a 38-game Premier League season, which was previously held jointly by Henry (2002-03) and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (2022-23) with 44. When players and staff gathered at the club’s Kirkby training complex in April 2025 to watch Arsenal play Crystal Palace on a big screen erected in the sports hall, Salah cut an agitated figure. A Palace victory would have confirmed Liverpool as champions, but Salah was desperate for them to wrap up the glory themselves. He got his wish as a 2-2 draw at the Emirates was followed by Liverpool thrashing Tottenham 5-1 on a memorable afternoon at Anfield. Having been denied the chance to celebrate with their fans due to the pandemic when they won the title in 2020, he savoured the celebrations. “This is way better, 100 per cent,” he told Sky Sports. Salah also recalled a conversation he had with Slot from the start of the season: “I told him, ‘As long as you rest me defensively, I will provide offensively’. He listened a lot, and you can see the numbers.” Earlier that month, Salah had ended speculation over his future by signing a two-year extension on similar terms. After sitting on a throne in the Anfield centre circle, he explained that his daughter Makka was “the happiest one in the family” because she didn’t want to move away from her school friends. Liverpool initially had reservations about renewing his contract as he approached his 33rd birthday, but given the numbers he was still returning, FSG’s CEO of football Michael Edwards and sporting director Richard Hughes decided that the evidence to keep him was compelling. A banner had appeared on the Kop featuring an image of Salah doing his bow and arrow goal celebration with the message: ‘FSG. He fires a bow. Now give Mo his dough.’ Salah’s fourth place in the Ballon d’Or when PSG’s Ousmane Dembele won it in 2025 was the highest of his career, having previously finished fifth in both 2019 and 2022. “Mo should have won that at least once,” insists Achterberg. “You could make a strong case for him being the best player in the world in that first season when he scored 44 goals and again last season. Despite everything he’s achieved, I still think he hasn’t got the wider recognition he deserves.” The season, which proved to be Salah’s last on Merseyside, began in the bleakest of circumstances, the tragic death of Diogo Jota in a car crash in Spain last July. “Until yesterday, I never thought there would be something that would frighten me of going back to Liverpool after the break,” Salah posted on social media. “Team-mates come and go but not like this.” On the opening night of this season, a tearful Salah stood on his own in front of the Kop, applauding as the Jota song echoed around Anfield after a 4-2 victory over Bournemouth. What was always going to be a difficult campaign for Liverpool proved harder than anyone involved had envisaged. Salah’s output dwindled and after a miserable run of nine defeats in 12 games, Slot dropped him in an attempt to make the team more compact and harder to play through. Salah felt like he had been scapegoated and told reporters after a 3-3 draw with Leeds United at Elland Road in December that his relationship with Slot had broken down and he had been “thrown under the bus”. Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard helped to convince Salah over dinner not to push for a move in the winter transfer window and he returned to the side on his return from AFCON in late January. However, the announcement in March that he had reached an agreement with Liverpool to effectively rip up the final 12 months of his contract so he could leave as a free agent this summer was hardly a surprise. A parting of the ways makes sense for all parties. With just 12 goals and nine assists in 2025-26, it’s not the way Salah would have wanted to bow out. Last weekend’s social media post, in the wake of a dismal defeat to Aston Villa, when he accused Liverpool of losing their identity by moving away from “heavy metal football” didn’t mention Slot by name but the insinuation was clear. His comments divided opinion among a restless fanbase. But his legacy remains intact and at Anfield on Sunday he’s guaranteed a spine-tingling farewell. “The Mo movie is a beautiful movie,” Klopp said. “And to make it interesting, you have to have a few edges in it. This specific kind of player is irreplaceable.  The numbers for a winger are ridiculous.” Werner is set to fly in from the United States for the final game of the season against Brentford. “As chairman, I’m incredibly grateful for all the memories Mo has given us, and I want to thank him for that,” he adds. “So many goals, so many records broken. Mo is a once-in-a-generation player. Whenever he got on the ball, you could feel the energy rising in the stadium because you knew there was a chance he was about to do something spectacular. “He reached the heights he did because of his commitment to excellence.  He set the standards for others to follow, and it became contagious.  He delivered year after year and is a true legend of this club. He’s a quiet family man who scaled some unbelievable heights.” Additional reporting: Gregg Evans, Andy Jones Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms