Arne Slot has paid tribute to Mohamed Salah, highlighting the qualities that have helped him remain one of world football’s elite.
Salah confirmed last week he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season, ending a remarkable spell that has produced 255 goals in 435 appearances and nine major honours.
Those numbers only tell part of the story. Since arriving from AS Roma in June 2017, Salah has cemented his status as a Liverpool legend.
Having worked with him for nearly two seasons, Slot has seen first-hand the professionalism and character that have kept the Egyptian among the game’s best for over a decade.
“I knew, so it wasn’t new news to me, but I think it was very good to hear and see all the reactions of his teammates, but also from everywhere around the world, for what he has done for this football club and for football in general,” the boss said of the announcement, when speaking to Liverpoolfc.com at the AXA Training Centre.
“I’ve mainly seen this as a fan, so watching football, seeing him playing at Liverpool, doing all these special things that he’s done for this club. Of course, in the fixtures against [Manchester] City but in all the other fixtures as well. He broke record after record after record.
“Then I started working with him and already the first day I was impressed by his professionalism because as with any season, it starts with a test that shows how much they did in the off-season and he beat all of them. He was the fittest player that came back, and I think that’s the ideal situation that you want as a manager: that your star player comes back as fit as he did.
“He had nothing to prove, but for himself he had a lot to prove because Mo always thinks he has to prove something every three days. That hunger never stops and that is something that I find most special about him.
“So many good players around the world [and] he’s definitely one of them in the last 10 years, that everybody talks about being one of the best there is and was in the last 10 years. To show that hunger every three days, that professionalism, that commitment to the club, to the team, to wanting to score again, always wanting to play – when you take him out three minutes before the end, he’s like, ‘Maybe I could have scored one extra!’ – that is what stands out for me.
“Everything he’s done for the club, but the moment I started working with him I knew it after one day, let alone after a few weeks or months, that it isn’t a coincidence that he’s been so influential in the last 10 years in football.”
Slot continued: “Hopefully he can make his legacy even more special in the upcoming weeks and months where we still play for something special. But he will always leave this club as a legend because, as I said, the way this club has performed in the last seasons is also for a large part due to what he’s done for it.
“Scoring goals, having his assists. As I said, as a fan I watched him and that front three with Sadio Mane and Bobby Firmino… everybody is still talking about that, and rightly so.
“And then when I started working with him, I don’t know if it was his best season in terms of numbers, but it was an impressive season because he had the most goals and the most assists and I don’t know if that has happened much with him, let alone with any player in the Premier League.
“He will definitely leave as a legend of this club.”
“Mo definitely deserves that the fans give him a great farewell,” he said. “If they want to do it game after game after game, I’m completely fine with that, because it usually helps players if they get the help from the fans, but it would be perfect if it’s not only about Mo.
“There’s every right that it should be about Mo for everything that he does for this club, but we are playing for something special and I think every player needs the support of our fans in the upcoming period.
“Mo will 100 per cent sure get it – and until now I’ve always felt that all of our players have felt that support when they were playing. We need this because [we have] challenging games.
“If there were ever two fixtures that showed how important our fans were, it is Galatasaray, because we’d lost twice against them away from home but the moment we played at home with our fans supporting us in the way they did that game [really helped]. How our players played probably helped as well, but the support was incredible.
“I think our players have to play that incredible but our fans have to be as incredible as they were against Galatasaray at home throughout the rest of the season.”
Read more: Alexander Isak set to return to team training with Liverpool on Thursday
Jeremie Frimpong suffers another injury ahead of Manchester City FA Cup clash
