African players aplenty have graced the foreign fields and delivered gallons of glory for their clubs. Though Eusebio scored 41 times in 64 matches for Portugal and remains Benfica’s all-time top scorer with 473 goals in 440 games, the umbilical cord of the late 1965 Ballon d’Or winner was cut in Mozambique.
From Liberia came George Weah, who became president of his country post his playing career, having won the Ballon d’Or 30 years after Eusebio. Weah was the 1995 recipient for his exploits for Paris St Germain and AC Milan in the same year that he was awarded the African Footballer of the Year accolade.
Cameroon gave Samuel Eto to the world, the multi-African footballer of the year who shone with 108 strikes in 144 matches for Barcelona. His heroics hauled a treble with the then Pep Guardiola-coached all-conquering Blaugrana.
Ivorian Didier Drogba needs no introduction, his place in football folklore immortally established in Chelsea blue.
Enter Mohamed Salah, the boy from the village of Nagrig, Egypt, home to just over 23,000 people, who — through his sheer will of steel — grew up to become a global hero of millions of Liverpool fans.
### Heading for exit
As the curtain draws to a close of time at Anfield, Salah is readying to head for the exit. He will follow in the footsteps of several other stalwarts that Jürgen Klopp marshalled to return the Reds to their perch.
Fabino. Gini Wijnaldum. Joel Matip. James Milner. Jordan Henderson. Adam Lallana. Phillippe Coutinho. Divock Origi, Luis Diaz. Trent Alexander Arnold.
And the two, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané, with whom Salah formed a fearsome trio that terrorised defenders with predatory ferocity. Mane provided the grit, Firmino the finesse, and Salah the super touch at some stage curated by the crafty Coutinho.
> A mean record-breaking machine that scored goal after goal, match after match, and time after time, Salah is a scorer of myriad wonderful worldies, including four EPL and one Champions League hat-tricks
Few can deny that the “Egyptian King” reigns supreme as the defining player of Klopp’s era. The nine years have been an emotion-stirring evolution, an expression of football poetry in motion as Salah’s spellbinding artistry told a story steeped in predatory ferocity peppered with irrepressible ingenuity applauded by audiences around the world.
By his lofty standards, 10 goals and nine assists in 36 games across all competitions is a paltry return.
A mean record-breaking machine that scored goal after goal, match after match, and time after time, Salah is a scorer of myriad wonderful worldies, including four EPL and one Champions League hat-tricks.
### Trophy cabinet
He will depart with only one Champions League medal. Three-time EPL Players’ Player of the Year, 2018. His trophy cabinet rivals that of Everton. Haha!
Fernando Torres was a whirlwind. Luis Suarez was a beast. They led Liverpool to many victories with some sublime goals during their time of bringing merriment to the red side of Merseyside before leaving for Chelsea and Barcelona, respectively.
In the 2012–13 season, Salah played for FC Basel in Switzerland and helped lead them to the Swiss title; he then left for London to join Chelsea before going to Italy to play for Fiorentina and AS Roma. During the 2015–16 season, Salah scored 14 goals for AS Roma and was voted Roma Player of the Year for 2016.
It is a travesty that the Ballon d’Or judges never saw beyond Messi and Ronaldo. Even that will never nullify the legacy of the boy from Basyoun.
When he reached 100 goals from 162 Premier League games to join Didier Drogba, he told an interviewer: “Hopefully, I can score many goals for the club before I go.” That was in 2019.
Two of the last four games will be at home, first Chelsea on May 9, followed by the swansong against Brentford on May 24. And it will be the last day his song, that goes “Mo Salah, Mo Salah, flying down the wing, Salalalalalah, the Egyptian King”, reverberates around Anfield.
A final applause to the third top scorer in Liverpool history, he who’s given so much to the cause. Wherever he goes next, Anfield will forever be Salah’s castle.
X - @bbkunplugged99