Mohamed Salah: The Underappreciated Genius

I think he's a little bit underappreciated in the case of Muhammad Salah in particular if he's not scoring goals he's not giving you much more because I don't think he's as good as people make him out to be I think he's I think I think he Dives people were talking a lot now he's not good enough for English football you know shouldn't be shouldn't come back in Italy is like a bit slow the football you know Salah is only the ghost of himself right now people questioned him last season hammered him last season said he's

not he's lost it everyone told me no don't change the premier league is difficult for you there's many doubts with no reason they just talk so oh there's a lot of talking in football muhamad Sawa might be one of the most underappreciated players we have seen in the world of football despite picking up 25 goals and 14 assists in the 2024 season he wasn't even part of the 30-man nomination for the balandor for the 2023 balandor Salah ranked 11th despite scoring 30 goals and providing 16 assists he has been arguably the best player in the

Premier League ever since he came to Liverpool he has won the playmaker of the Season award won the PFA Player of the Year twice and has won three golden boots Salah holds the record for the most goals on Premier League opening day has had multiple seasons of scoring 30 plus goals and multiple Seasons with double digit assists scores again for Liverpool Mohammad Salah always scores for Liverpool never injured and year after year he top goal scor he just is the impact he has had on this Liverpool team is insane at times Salah has had to

carry the Reds alone on a shoulder when things got tough him and de brua have been the faces of the league for the 2020s uh unbelievable I think uh to score that many goals um in a season is unbelievable who do we votee for for footballer of the year I vote for Salah you did yeah because because he deserves it he is one of the greatest African players to ever play the sport the best right winger in premier league history who's who's been the toughest opponent I think it's Salah Salah I think it's Salah why

what what is it about him absolutely explosive and Unstoppable Winger so why is it that despite the dominance Salah has shown in what many people deem as the best league in the world despite the numbers despite the trophies despite the consistency when you talk about the best players in the world his name is rarely mentioned is it because of where he's from is it because he's an African Muslim dominating the entire Premier League I think it's it's always opinion I can't say I'm the best player in the war or something it's people agree some people

not do you like Pro proving people wrong is that does it give you pleasure give me motivation gives you motivation motivation yeah to to to prove them wrong for Salah being underappreciated isn't something new it's something that he has had to deal with at every step of his journey while we all know Sala now as the Liverpool Legend Who Can't Stop scoring he used to have a different reputation at just 15 years old playing in Egypt he had to be given a special diet and training program due to his muscles not being fully formed that

show that shows a great determination and and a will to be a footballer you must have absolutely really wanted I had nothing to do nothing else to do just I'm playing football I love to play football I it was my life early on in his career MDU Abbas who was the president of Egyptian top club zalik publicly refused to sign Salah because he was apparently not good enough and I didn't play for the team the best team in egyp while he would get regular game time at Al makalon he struggled to score goals in the

dressing room after matches he was sometimes being tears because of this these setbacks only motivated Salah to become better what really I love about myself is i w Really succeed and I I can do anything just to to to be better person and better player well he wasn't putting up the craziest numbers he was showing that he had potential Swiss Club basil had been monitoring Salah for some time and following the suspension of the Egyptian Premier League they made a move for the Egyptian they set up a friendly match with the Egyptian National under 23

team but the match was only played for one reason to watch Salah although Salah only played in the second half he scored twice basil were impressed and on the 10th of April 2012 it was announced that Salah had signed for Basil on a 4-year contract he was brought in as a replacement for shakiri who had just Departed the excitement of the move however came to a quick end after Salah found it difficult to settle I think because it's the culture is very difficult for us like you came from Egypt to Switzerland like what it's two

cultur is completely different the timing the to respect your time I mean to be in time that's something different his first training with the club was so bad that Basil's manager at the time vogle thought that Salah might have had a twin brother I first day in basil I said okay I need to change myself now it was hard of course he wasn't able to speak the language and now he was playing in a new league and Country what was the hardest thing the language I couldn't speak English so I was walking the street talking

Arabic to everyone so it was difficult the language I couldn't speak English I have to learn English it was a big step up from the Egyptian League they they train two hours they give everything two hours the attention the focus concentration concentration everything the two hours but in in Egypt I wasn't like that it was like yeah you have 2 hours you could be a little bit slow you could be a little bit tired that's doesn't work here so I need to change my my mentality and I need to develop myself different work ethic completely

in many ways here his speed wasn't enough to beat players and as his former teammate Yan s stated Salah had problems in front of gold so in my mind I need to change or otherwise I have to come back to Egypt so that's not an optional for me so I need to change myself but the club remained patient Salah was eased into things often being used as an impact substitute of his 29 appearances in the Swiss Super League in that first year at basil only 10 of them lasted longer than an hour the team's manager

mura yakin was careful to manage his development their patience was rewarded in the second season where Salah picked up 12 goals and seven assists in all competitions as basil were Crown champions again these numbers look drastically low now but at the time were signs of huge improvements from the Egyptian all my willower to to to change my mentality in in Switzerland so I was really really able to change my myself my mentality my mind everything so that's what I did in basil in fact he was playing so well that Chelsea were interested in signing him

held talks with basil with the hope of making Salah their first signing of the January transfer window Salah joined mourinho's Chelsea in January for $ 14.75 million from basil he was still relatively Unknown by most football fans but he had shown some moments of greatness specifically his performance against Chelsea in the Champions League beautiful control from him and Salah has done it for the third time in a row against Chelsea he has stored and it might clinch the Champions League double over Jose Mourinho side he had played so well that Mourinho was convinced that Salah

might be the missing piece to take the team to the next level I was the one that told by that guy he was going from Basel to Liverpool and I made a fight I made a war to make him come to Chelsea Salah scored his first goal for Chelsea against Arsenal in a 6-n win however things only went downhill from here K come from Egypt to Chelsea you know after one year and a half like it's difficult in Chelsea you go the dressing room you see big names big players you L him when you were

kids Mourinho did not play Salah much with him only making eight appearances in all competitions not scoring in any of them I played first 6 months then I was not able to play the second six months so I didn't play much I I don't know what's the reason I just was young then I didn't have my chance that's what I can say about the time we bought the kid and we bought the kid from a different habitat you know Egyptian player playing in in Switzerland we knew that the kid was going to need time this

season step by step start playing 10 minutes here 10 minutes there he come on against NASA then Salah had his worst performance ever in a game against Shrewsbury now the performance was so bad that Mourinho publicly talked about it he said that certain players made it easy to not choose them for the starting 11 then specifically said that Salah in particular had disappointed him Mourinho began freezing Salah out and he only made three more appearances before being loaned out to fantina to be a Chelsea player you need to perform or you have to wait you

have to wait it didn't want to wait he wanted to go on loan mentally after I was not playing I it was very difficult for me mentally I said to myself I need to leave I said to myself I need to to change everything I need to change the culture I need to change the football so that's a time to go outside England now some people might blame Chelsea for Salah not developing I mean at the end of the day making attackers better is not something Chelsea have been particularly good at but on the other

hand maybe the move to England was done too early in salah's career he was young and did not have enough top level experience he arrived in in Chelsea coming from Basel uh a lonely boy a naive boy completely out of of context physically fragile I was also young 21 22 so the media was like putting more pressure on me then I couldn't handle that and it was really difficult because as a star in Egypt and like 100 Millions is looking at you and writing everything about you and probably most of the time they WR something

fake at fantina though Sal good certainly a lot better than the version of what we were seeing at Chelsea he made his first start for fantina on the 14th of February against taso scoring his first score for the club in the 30th minute he then provided an assist to babacar Just 2 minutes after scoring the match ended in a 3-1 win for fantina he scored in the Europa League against totenham scored both of fiorentina's goals in a 2-1 win against Juventus in the Copa Italia and scored the winner against inter in the league despite joining

the club halfway through the year Salah was shining fantina tried to make the L move permanent but Salah refused and instead joined Roma on loan Salah really must have loved Italy because he continued to shine picking up 15 goals and seven assists as Roma finished third in CA and qualified for the Champions League he was named Roma's 2015 2016 player of the season the lone spell had gone so well that Roma signed Salah on a permanent deal Salah rewarded their decision by getting even better as he picked up 18 goals and 15 assists in all

competitions Roma finished second Just Four Points behind Juventus but s had shown unbelievable progress ultimately his time in Italy was a blessing Fiorentina and roma made him better both physically and mentally Italy fantina and roma of course and you really established yourself and then he goes to Italy he has the experience of fentin has the experience of Rome when he comes back to England he comes completely adapted to the high level European football with more understanding of uh of the game physically much stronger you can see his body his Fitness much stronger and much more

confident a player who was criticized for his inability to be clinical in front of goal now had two seasons in a row with double digit goals many people were saying that uh about you know he couldn't finish well he didn't do that didn't do that I build a field goal and balls and coins and everything I was talking every day practice every day this was the player Chelsea had hoped to get when they sign him from basil with salah's reputation transforming after his time in Italy Liverpool Came Calling since I left in Rome I don't

know which club but when I had Liverpool I say okay I have to come back to England and that's why when I was in Rome and there's talk between the clubs and there was I will go there I would love to play there the the atmosphere is unbelievable I want to come back to you to England to to prove people wrong while Sal play had drastically improved from his time at Chelsea a lot of people at the time still doubted the signing in people's eyes he was still a premier league reject and despite getting 34

goals and 22 assists at Roma nobody knew if you could keep the same numbers in England it's like many doubts like the people were talking a lot now it's not good enough for English football you know shouldn't be shouldn't come back in Italy is like a bit slow the football you know so for Liverpool to spend that sum of money on someone that has already failed to prove himself in the Premier League looked it looked like a bit of a a dud to me if everybody's F at the start of the season I didn't think

he might not get in the team cuz he were looking at coutinho firmino and mani after all even in that great second season at Roma at one point Salo had gone two months without a goal there were even reports that Salah was not the player klopp wanted and Jen klopp's quite open about this he didn't want to sign Mo Salah he wanted to sign Julian brand but Salah was determined to silence his doubters on his return to England just to come back to England that's it was in my mind mind very clear in my mind

I was like it's it's my league I will come back I will come back and for sure I will succeed here but when I came here I had also two great season in Rome everyone told me no don't change the Premier League is difficult for you but it's always in my mind to come back and his opening game he scored against Watford the gentleman alongside you scored today he was also involved in the penalty what did you think of his overall contribution yeah brilliant he's been brilliant since he come in pre-season he's sh what he's

all about scoring goals um link up with the forward men and doing his defensive duties as well so he was fantastic again the day and deserves manone of the match just 12 days later he would score his first score at anfield against 1899 hoffenheim then he scored an assisted in a 4-nil win over Arsenal he was starting to silence his haters in the very first month then in November of 2017 he went face to face with the team that got rid of him Chelsea this was the same Chelsea team that had won the league the

previous season but Salah positioned himself at the right place at the right time scoring against them out of respect for his former Club he didn't celebrate but everyone in that Stadium knew that this was not the same Salah who had come to the Premier League 4 years ago the Chelsea fans were even more sad that they had lost to a player that they got rid of Salah began to rise to the top of the Premier League top score charts after scoring twice against Stoke scoring against Bournemouth and scoring four goals against Watford but the real

moment I think when it looked like they had got a world beater when it l like they got an incredible player I think was the Watford game mid- March where he he scored four goals he became the joint second fastest player to reach 20 goals for Liverpool doing it in 26 appearances don't think he just scored against the weaker teams either he scored in both legs of the champions of quarterfinals against Man City helping Liverpool advance to the semi-finals changed the way he plays he doesn't play the same way as before and I think sometimes

like we were talking about before is that some players the penny drops what do you want to be do you want to be an Entertainer or do you want to be someone who decides games and he's made that decision and he's he's been clinical the game I would never take it away in my from my mind is the Champions League away game the 2-1 um that was like I think I was talking to v s bench I was like I think that's the most difficult game we played in Liverpool in the semi-finals he scored a

brace against his former club Roma he had turned into Egyptian Messi this season Mohamad Salah is running through Mohammad Salah Alis it's all the way out oh it's another for Liverpool it's another for Salah without Muhammad Salah Liverpool two- nil down with Muhammad Salah Liverpool 5- nil up Salah was perfect for cl system their fast attacking style me they could use salah's pace and and and The Stylist of his football and the way he sets up his team it clearly suits you Salah would start out wide and either create a goal for himself like this

one or someone like firmino could create for him like his second goal against Roma his speed combined with his improved finishing made him so dangerous how have you done it how have you gone from excellent world class to maybe even that next stage I'm always looking to myself like where I can improve what can I do to improve this became salah's best season statistically as he finished with 44 goals in all competition 32 goals in the Premier League and 10 goals in the Champions League you guys understand how crazy 10 goals and five assists in

13 Champions League games is he also became the leading goal scorer in Europe's top five leagues overtaking Barcelona's Leonel Messi and tanm Striker Harry Kane look who's at the top of that list lonel Messi at the talk crazy to see a player who was Meed as being a pace Merchant become a golden boo winner in his first season back to the Premier League he became the PFA Player of the Year and was named in the team of the season he would then become the Premier League's all-time goal scorer for a 38 Game season at the

time Salah was breaking record after record when I won it from Kane I said you won it from Kane and Kane was winning two years before so no I went to the summer in the holiday I said look why not you did it one time and take it from Kane and Kan is top go score so give it a try on the second one his success continued as Liverpool made it to the Champions League final real Madrid were the last obstacle standing between Liverpool and the Champions League Liverpool fans were confident that was Salah playing

at a Balon door level along with s om Mane they would achieve the Ultimate Prize but then everything changed in the 30th minute Sergio Ramos grabbed Mo Salah and tackled him to the ground this literally looks like a finishing move in WWE while dragging him down Ramos dislocated Salah shoulder Salah at first tried to carry on thinking he could still play I felt something I just felt something strange in my body when I fell in my shoulder so I said hopefully it's not serious so the doctor came in then I go out then I say

okay now it's fine I can move it but when I was running I just felt something like too much yeah but he couldn't continue and left the field in tears Real Madrid ended up winning the final putting a sad ending to a historic season for Salam disappointed M moment in my career in my life go out to the field you know in the final Champions League was so bad after the the season we had together so it was very disappointed for me I think if I was if I continue the game in my mind that

we we could win the game in the day after I was like okay now we have to looking forward for the next one I don't have to just still crying crying crying and think about the bus the bus is PED so now you have to think about now and the future while the 2018 season ended in tears the new season started off with a bang Sal signic contract extension with Liverpool he committed his future to the club and showed that the last season was not a fluke as he immediately scored in the first game of

the new season against West Ham he was named on the three-man short list for the UEFA men's Player of the Year coming in third place and was also included on the three-man short list for the UFA forward of the season coming in second place imagine going back to 2014 and telling someone that the dude who scored nine goals for Basil and played about 12 games with Chelsea would be considered one of the best players in the world of course I W show that people that they are wrong there's many doubts was no reason they just

talk from right footed goals to tapin to an absolute Banger against Chelsea Salah was finding the net in every way possible a lot of people had said that Salah was a one season Wonder but the numbers disagree can he do anything anywhere near it next season well that's the big question I remember the first season and I remember some people saying yeah but can you do it again the first season's easy can you do it again and now you've just gone year after year 27 goals and 12 assists in all competitions for the Egyptian as

he won his second Golden Boot breaking records two golden boots player of the years but there was still a missing peace in salah's glory there was something he hadn't achieved yet Liverpool was back in the Champions League final again it was time for salah's Redemption Liverpool's previous opponents from last year were thrashed earlier in the Champions League by ax it meant that Salah would not have to face Ramos again salah's new opponent was tanm Hotspur while it looks like an easier matchup compared to Real Madrid on paper this was a different Spurs team just look

at what Lucas MOA did to get Spurs to the final it didn't matter though brilliant response lipo Le the Champions League final while the final wasn't the most entertaining this was a massive moment of redemption for the Egyptian Mo all the tears of last season all the disappointment of last season's final all wiped away tonight honestly I don't know what to say but everyone is happy now you win a final I'm very glad to play the second final in the role and played 1990 minutes finally I think when we win like when we won the

Champions League was was unbelievable emotionally you can see in the videos that he had an emotion with us after the game was like a from here on Salah continued his dominance and established himself not just as a Liverpool Legend but a premier league great he had 19 goals and 10 assists just in the Premier League in the 2019 2020 season leading Liverpool to a league title the Premier League is like there is no doubt that's the most important thing for everybody he won the 20 19 FIFA Club World Cup and received the Golden Ball award

for the player of the tournament in this season Salah also became the first Liverpool player to score 20 goals in all competitions in three consecutive Seasons since Michael Owen yet he finished fifth in the Balor rankings it was almost like people had become numb to his greatness but with Liverpool fans I think he's a little bit underappreciated certainly going from what he did in that fair season to what he sort of the numbers he's getting now OB do you feel this season you maybe not getting the attention that you got last season and what you're

doing is maybe not getting appreciated as much in the 2021 season he's scored against Newcastle to become the first Liverpool player to scored 20 goals in three different Premier League campaigns Salah ended the season with 22 goals and five assists in the Premier League and 31 goals and six assists in all competition what makes these numbers even more impressive was that it was in a struggling Liverpool side between covid and injury issues that Liverpool was dealing with they couldn't compete at a high level it's Liverpool's last three away games in the league they lost three1

at Branford 3-0 at Brighton 3-0 at wolves I mean they've lost the Fear Factor haven't they oh 100% 100% there's no doubt about that yeah but at this moment this Liverpool team you know a shadow of what they've been Salah was the only consistent part of the Liverpool team that season and without him they don't qualify for the Champions League you rescued it to an extent did you find last season really hard well yes absolutely we have a lot of injured uh some player were not in the best form so I found I found really

hard but because of Liverpool's struggles salah's performances were also being criticized despite his numbers Liverpool in the last month have carried Mo Salah and if Diego jot was fit I don't think Mo Salah probably started yesterday and he probably didn't start the games before because he is way out of form well Salah we have to talk about Salah Salah is only the ghost of himself right now I would certainly agree that he's not as good as he was two seasons ago when Mo Salah comes on you think he's going to come on had some freshness

three or four times he gets 1 V one with the left back and just runs straight into him even among the Liverpool fan base there was a period where people felt firmino and man were more important to the side Liverpool's front trade and again said to Liverpool supporters would you rather man go firmino or Salah everyone I speak to says Salah but Salah kept pushing in 2022 it seemed like every week Salah was breaking records he opened the season with a goal and assist against Norwich becoming the first player to score in the opening game

of five consecutive I Premier League Seasons his goal against brenford made him the fastest player in Liverpool history to reach 100 top flight goals the goal also moved Salah into Liverpool's top 10 all-time scor list I want to be the top the highest top scorer in for Liverpool in the Premier League that's for sure it's clear in my mind I'm going to do it hopefully soon in October he scored two goals against Atletico Madrid breaking two different Milestones he became the first player in Liverpool history to score in nine consecutive games and also passed Steven

jar to become the top Champions League goal scorer in Liverpool's history now my favorite is you it has to be you because Leo my my Leo he's obsessed he loves you more than me I know Jared was a midfielder but it is still insane that Salah surpassed him that quickly considering Jared was a Liverpool his whole career I think when Mo Salah eventually you know stops playing for the club I think he goes right in there as one of the top players who have play for the team I I think he goes in an alltime

Liverpool 11 and You could argue he's in the top five or six players who ever play for the club later in that same month Salah broke yet another record after scoring a hattrick against Manchester United he became the highest scoring African player in premier league history surpassing did drugo he also became the first opposition player to score a hat-trick at Old Trafford since Ronaldo Nazario did it in 2003 and the first to do so in premier league history when I scored hadik andai I think I had another chance after I was like so angry and

I looked the manager was like stay Cal gonna score again it's fine and I just felt like I want to score again and again at the end of the season Salah was awarded his third Golden Boot award sharing the award with hman son after both players scored 23 goals Salah also won the playmaker of the Season award after collecting 13 assists imagine telling someone that the same guy who got two goals from 19 appearances in 7 months at Chelsea would come back to England and win three golden boots the consistency Salah has shown is unbelievable

and he's got the the consistency as well that's four of the last six seasons he's scored 30 plus goals across all all competitions and he's a self-styled Winger he finished the 2023 season with 19 goals and 12 assists in the Premier League and 30 goals in all competition despite Liverpool losing early in the Champions League he still finished as the second top goal scorer in the competition B Holland he also moved up to fifth place in Liverpool's top goal scores of all time the next season he got 25 goals and 14 assists what Salah has

achieved at Liverpool is amazing from being considered a pace Merchant to a premier league reject then called a one season Wonder Salah has silenced all the doubters maybe when he retires he will be looked back on more fondly because I don't think people realize we are watching history the consistency and the Peaks that he has reached I don't see why he shouldn't be considered the greatest right winger in premier league history Muhammad Salah isn't the only Liverpool player to be underappreciated just look at the discourse around Trent Alexander Arnold to see how Trent is also

making history just in a different position you have to check out this video right here