The Life and Career of Mo Salah
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Mohamed Salah is one of the best football players in the world right now, and quite possibly the frontrunner for the Ballon d’Or this year. The Egyptian captain and Liverpool star has been in sensational form, scoring goals for fun and achieving so much both on and off the pitch.
Salah was born on 15 June 15 1992 in Basyoun, Egypt, where his love of football began at an early age. He spent his youth idolising players like Zidane and Ronaldo, hoping to imitate their style of play.
Egyptian club El Mokawloon picked Salah up at the age of 14 and he often trained with the senior team.
Salah made his debut in 2010 aged 18 and was a sporadic first team member from then on. His performances did not go unnoticed as scouts from Swiss club Basel had took a keen interest in him.
After impressing them in a series of trials, including a friendly match between Basel and Egypt under 23s in which Salah scored twice, he was offered a four-year contract with the club.
After two seasons of helping them seal multiple trophies, Salah was signed by Chelsea for a fee of £11 million.
His time at Chelsea was one to forget. After barely being used in his first six months, Salah was sent to Fiorentina on loan, where he fared a bit better. The next season, he was loaned out again, and this time to Roma.
He played so well over there that the team insisted on buying him out of his Chelsea contract, which they did.
In one season for Roma, Salah scored 19 goals in 39 appearances. It wasn’t long before Liverpool came in with one of the best pieces of business the club has ever pulled off, signing Salah for around £34 million.
In his first season for the Reds, Mo Salah launched himself into superstardom. By the end of the season, he had scored a sensational 44 goals in 52 appearances, making it one of the best individual performances in league history.
He hauled Liverpool to the Champions League final where he went off with an injury after a controversial challenge by Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos. Salah’s loss was a real impact on the team as they succumbed to a 3-1 defeat.
Was he a one-season wonder? Certainly not. In the last three seasons at the club, Mo Salah has cemented himself among the greatest players to have ever graced the Premier League. He even got his chance again in the Champions League final a year later, beating Tottenham 2-0 to win the trophy.
This current season, in particular, he has been in sparkling form and has even been considered a frontrunner for the Ballon d’Or.
His work off the pitch has not gone unnoticed either. In particular, his insistence that the Middle East should improve their treatment of women has garnered praise. A committed Muslim, he performs the sujud after every goal, and has been credited with granting better perception to Islam across Britain.
Just the other day, the Mo Salah story has been added to the curriculum across schools in Egypt in the hopes that young children can be inspired to do great things from his journey.
Mohamed Salah is an inspiration to everyone regardless of their background, gender, or faith. He is not only a great football player but also a great man. Everyone can do with hearing his story and rise to success for inspiration.
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