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Ian Rush, Liverpool’s record goalscorer, was a Welsh village boy who grew up less than 45 minutes from Anfield. Roger Hunt, the man he surpassed as the Reds’ goalscoring king, lived even closer in nearby Lancashire.
Little did anyone know, the man who would come closest to challenging their supremacy wouldn’t hail from Scotland Road or star in their academy, but instead learned his trade in the small farming village of Nagrig, just north of Cairo, almost 6,000 kilometres away.
The name Mohamed Salah is now synonymous with Liverpool the world over, but in 2011 the wiry winger was breaking through at boyhood side Al Mokawloon and travelling to the FIFA U-20 World Cup™ in Colombia.
The Young Pharaohs had a proud history at the U-20 event, having reached the knockout phase in four of their previous six visits and claimed bronze at Argentina 2001.
Salah headlined a side which included fellow Egyptian icons-in-the-making Mohamed Elneny and Ahmed Hegazi, though they faced a tall order to continue their knockout-stage streak in a group alongside eventual winners Brazil, Austria and Panama.
Diaa El Sayed’s side took the task in their stride. They dazzled against Brazil to earn a 1-1 draw, before sinking Panama and hammering Austria 4-0 – their biggest U-20 win for two decades – to advance in second and only behind the Seleção on goal difference.
Another South American giant stood in their way in the last 16, as they battled Argentina in Medellin. Two penalties saw the young Albiceleste pull clear, and while Salah halved the deficit with a spot-kick of his own, it wasn’t enough to see them through. Despite the disappointment, it was clear which of their stars had shone brightest.
“Salah came with us and the first thing that stood out was his speed and that he was always concentrating,” El Sayed told the BBC. “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.”
After the tournament, Salah quickly set about leaving his mark on the senior side. Two weeks on from his Colombian adventure, he became a full international, and netted his first senior goal against Niger in October 2011.
He was the joint-top scorer in African qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ with six strikes, but couldn’t prevent play-off heartbreak against Ghana.
Nobody could stop him in the Russia 2018 preliminaries, though, as he once again shared top-scorer honours on the continent with five. The most important of those was a 95th-minute penalty against Congo which secured the Pharaohs a place at the finals for the first time in 28 years.
Despite a shoulder injury suffered in the 2018 UEFA Champions League final limiting him to two group-stage appearances, Salah made yet more history by netting both of his nation’s goals against the hosts and Saudi Arabia.
If his exploits for the national team have made him an Egyptian icon, his achievements in the club game have ensured his place as a Premier League legend.
After successful spells with Basel, Fiorentina and Roma, he moved to Liverpool in 2017. He has played more than 400 games for the Reds and, at the time of writing, has plundered some 248 goals to place him third on the all-time list, 98 strikes behind Rush’s near-30-year record.
Trophy wins aplenty and a heap of broken records have punctuated his time at Anfield, with more sure to come for the man whose journey began at those Colombian finals some 14 years ago.
