Life comes at you fast when you are a Premier League full back playing against the formidable force of Mohamed Salah. Just ask Ipswich’s Leif Davis — or hundreds of other talented defenders who have been left helpless by the ‘Egyptian King’.
In the first half at Portman Road on Saturday, Davis looked imperious in defence and every bit an international star in the making. He could have emptied his pockets at the break and found his phone, wallet, keys and Salah — as the old joke goes.
But before he knew it, Davis was chasing Salah’s shadow and looked bereft of ideas. A goal, an assist and several devastating runs later, all the 24-year-old had to show for it was the token gesture of Salah’s No 11 shirt, which the forward personally donated to him after a tough battle.
It’s not the first time Salah has embarrassed a youngster this summer. The 32-year-old ranked first in Liverpool’s pre-season fitness tests, leaving junior team-mates puffing to keep up with him.
As far as the electric Egyptian is concerned, age is just a number. But with less than a year left on his current Liverpool deal, it has become a thorny subject for the club’s hierarchy.
Mo Salah bagged a goal and an assist in Liverpool’s opening day victory over Ipswich Town
The Egyptian King left talented Ipswich full-back Leif Davis (left) in his wake as he ran the show
Salah, 32, won all of Liverpool’s pre-season fitness tests to show that age is just a number
Michael Edwards, the CEO of football at owners Fenway Sports Group, is known for never giving improved terms to anyone over the age of 30. It is fair to say a cloud of uncertainty looms over Salah’s future.
Contract chatter is somewhat of a taboo topic in public forums around Liverpool. Head coach Arne Slot refuses to speak about new deals for Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and captain Virgil van Dijk. To be fair to the Dutch manager, they are private matters and he is right to take this stance.
Around Salah’s camp, there is a genuine belief that he can play for many more years yet. He shows no signs of slowing down — if anything, he is getting better.
That view is echoed by many inside the club. Notably, talk of a move to Saudi Arabia has died down this year.
‘I see what he does to keep his body as it is, then I think there are many more years inside of him to play,’ said Slot after Saturday’s 2-0 win at Portman Road.
Scotland captain Andy Robertson added: ‘Only time will tell but I think everyone knows Mo looks after his body exceptionally well and does everything right.
‘He’s a model professional and someone that everyone looks up to. He leaves no stone unturned and that is why he is still in incredible shape at the age he’s at. Long may that continue.
‘If our main man is playing like that, then it’s obviously going to help the team.’
Liverpool boss Arne Slot believes that fitness freak Salah has many years left at the top level
The Reds winger works extremely hard in the gym to maintain his incredible physique
Salah will have been encouraged by the enduring brilliance of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Novak Djokovic and Lewis Hamilton that has been on show this summer. But a better reference point is probably basketball legend LeBron James, a Liverpool fan who has a stake in the club.
As the team bus pulls into Anfield on a matchday, players go past a huge advertising billboard of LeBron. The ‘Egyptian King’ will see the face of ‘King James’, 39, and be inspired to replicate his longevity. The greying star added a third Olympic gold to his four NBA rings this summer.
Salah dedicates his life to keeping his body in peak physique. His house, which is in the same neighbourhood as fellow fitness freak Erling Haaland, is kitted out with two gym rooms and also has cryotherapy facilities and a hyperbaric chamber. He also has a private chef.
In layman’s terms, cryotherapy is the use of ice-led machines to decrease swelling by constricting blood vessels, while a hyperbaric chamber has air pressure levels three times higher than normal conditions to help the lungs spread more oxygen around the body.
He eats broccoli with almost every meal and other ‘superfoods’ are often on the menu. He is particularly fond of the Egyptian national dish koshary, a mixture of fried rice, pasta, pulses, onions and a tomato sauce. As a Muslim, Salah has never touched alcohol. During Ramadan it is believed he alters his routine to do a 2am gym session. Fatty foods are rare but he does allow a ‘cheat day’ pizza.
It is easy to forget what happened at the end of last season. Salah managed just three goals in the last 11 games of the Jurgen Klopp era and was never fully fit from January onwards, after he suffered a muscle injury playing for Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Salah kept himself in phenomenal shape over the summer by maintaining a strict diet
Even his birthday treat was healthy as he rarely allows himself to eat fatty foods except pizza
Deep in the bowels of West Ham’s London Stadium in April, Salah offered an eight-word riposte that made all the back pages. ‘If I speak today, there will be fire,’ he said when asked by reporters for a quick chat after a public spat with Klopp due to the fact he was a substitute.
Salah has rarely given interviews during his career other than those he is contractually obliged to do for the big-paying broadcasters. Ironically, those eight words in east London got more traction than any hour-long sit-down might have done. It felt like the end was closer than ever.
But sources stress that Salah is still very happy at Liverpool. While fans are in a frenzy about the lack of movement with contracts, there is said to be no panic inside the building. He is enjoying working with the fresh ideas that Slot and his right-hand men have brought to Anfield.
Given the Egyptian’s aversion to publicity, some of the new staff have been struck by how bubbly and engaged the player is around the AXA Training Centre in Kirkby.
He is one of the loudest voices in the team and has strong relationships with nearly everyone in the building.
His best friends are left back Kostas Tsimikas and Dominik Szoboszlai. Salah lost a close ally when third-choice keeper Adrian returned to boyhood club Real Betis this summer — though the Spaniard gifted his old mate a signed shirt and joked he could always join him at the club in Seville.
Salah has never forgotten where he came from, and the days and nights spent kicking a football around the bobbly pitches of Nagrig, a village around 80 miles from Cairo. He has funded a hospital, school and youth centre in the area — and has even bankrolled locals’ weddings.
After a row with Jurgen Klopp away at West Ham last year it felt like Salah was nearing an exit
But sources have stressed that Salah is very happy under the new Slot regime on Merseyside
If he is not on the training pitch perfecting his off-the-ball movements and finishing, Salah will be found in the gym or massage rooms getting his daily recovery treatment. He is a big fan of the new coffee bar at the training ground and chats to the two local baristas in charge.
Salah also enjoys mental exercises — he meditates daily and does yoga. His main hobby is playing online chess. He was recently given a rating of around 1,400 — most players never get above 1,000. Opponents message him to ask if he is the real Mohamed Salah — he enjoys messing around with them in reply.
The forward benefited from his decision to snub Egypt for the Olympics — the two parties have had a couple of disagreements in the last year after he asked to skip two mid-season international friendlies — which meant he had a full pre-season under the new coaching staff and has yet to miss a training session.
What is striking is that, if Klopp had his way, Salah might have never been at Liverpool. A book released last week by former Liverpool head of data Ian Graham confirmed that the boss preferred to sign Julian Brandt back in 2017. A handy player, Brandt, but the Borussia Dortmund winger is no Salah.
Liverpool tried to sign Salah from Basel in 2014 but the Swiss club stopped answering their calls and he went to Chelsea. It never worked out at Stamford Bridge. Salah was framed as a failure — but the Reds believed that Chelsea were to blame for not playing him enough to demonstrate his talents.
They noted his record of 0.94 goals or assists per game in his final year at Roma and Graham writes: ‘Mo was not Jurgen’s first choice. But among the many players we considered — Brandt included — Mo was an outlier. It was incredible that there was so little competition (to sign him).’
Outlier is probably the perfect word for Salah. His numbers continue to be astounding even now, averaging 30 goals a season at Anfield. Since his Liverpool debut, he has registered 56 more goal contributions than anyone in the Premier League, with only Harry Kane near him.
Salah is an avid lover of board games and chess – he has earned a huge rating of around 1,400
The winger also likes yoga and hit a tree pose celebration after scoring against Chelsea in 2019
He has been spending time with coaches over recent years on how to improve the creative side of his game. Last season, he created 22 Opta-defined ‘big chances’ — more than any of his previous campaigns at the club, even after he was absent for a significant period due to injury.
In terms of an actual way of measuring his fitness and whether his body is indeed ageing, Salah clocked a top speed of 21.56mph in 2020-21 and, last season, it was 21.49mph. His total distance covered per 90 minutes is exactly the same. Not bad for four years of wear and tear.
Salah is now a complete forward and an undisputed great. Yes, he is 32, but there is no reason why he cannot continue for another half-decade. Liverpool’s policy of never offering bumper deals to ageing players is fair — but Salah is worthy of an exception.