Player Profile

Salah began his professional career in his homeland with El Mokawloon. When the Egyptian league season was suspended in March 2012 following a stadium disaster at Port Said, Salah was signed by Swiss side Basel after impressing against them in a friendly for Egypt under 23's. Salah helped Basel to the Swiss league title and semi-finals of the Europa League in 2012/13, eventually going out on loan to Chelsea. In January 2014 he signed for Chelsea, preferring a move to Stamford Bridge when there was also interest from Liverpool. Salah failed to make an impression there and was loaned to Fiorentina for the second half of 2014/15. Salah stayed in Italy for 2015/16, on loan with Roma who he joined on a permanent deal in the summer of 2016. 

Salah reignited his career in Rome, scoring 29 goals in 65 league appearances from wide positions. His ability to cross the ball as well as cut in and shoot attracted the attention of Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp who paid a new club record fee to bring him to Anfield. Salah scored in his first pre-season game at Wigan on 14 July and although big things were expected of him in 2017/18, he went on to exceed all expectations. Salah was sensational, scoring 44 goals, the second-highest total of any player in the club's history. He was voted the PFA Player of the Year, Football Writers' Footballer of the Year and Premier League Player of the Year. Salah also claimed the Premier League Golden Boot, his tally of 32 goals breaking the record for a 38-game season. There was heartbreak for Salah in the Champions League final when he was forced off the pitch due to a shoulder injury after a challenge by Sergio Ramos. Salah was rewarded with an improved new five-year contract in July 2018 that probably guaranteed him close to £200,000 a week. After intensive treatment on his shoulder injury, Salah appeared twice for Egypt in the World Cup but was not at his best. However, he returned to Merseyside showing no signs of injury, netting the first goal of the new campaign against West Ham.

It would have been foolish to expect Salah to hit the same heights as he did in his debut season. However, his tally of 22 Premier League goals in 2018/19 was enough to earn him a share of the Golden Boot alongside teammate Sadio Mané and Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. A six-game run in spring without a goal was seen as a severe drought, but Salah ended it in style by taking the ball out of his own half to score a fine solo goal at Southampton, leading to a booking for his celebration. Salah started 37 of the 38 Premier League games, coming off the bench in the other. He also came on as a substitute in both domestic cup ties. In the Champions League, he missed just one game, the second leg of the semi-final against Barcelona, due to concussion sustained in the previous game at Newcastle. Salah revealed a black t-shirt with the slogan 'Never Give Up' when celebrating the famous win at Anfield, something which became an iconic phrase in the build-up to the final in Madrid. On 1 June 2019 at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, Salah buried the ghosts of Kiev when he smashed home a second-minute penalty to send Liverpool on their way to a sixth triumph in Europe's premier club competition.

Salah entered his third season at Anfield with expectations sky-high after his extraordinary goal returns in his first two years. While his overall tally dipped compared with previous campaigns, he still produced another impressive haul and remained Liverpool’s most dangerous forward. His link-up play with Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino remained at the heart of Liverpool’s attacking fluency. Salah's pace and movement continued to unsettle defences, though he managed just two goals in his final seven appearances as the season reached its conclusion. Salah finished on 19 league goals, four short of Leicester's Jamie Vardy, but he happily exchanged individual honours for team glory as Liverpool secured their first league championship in 30 years. The Egyptian King featured in 34 of Liverpool’s 38 Premier League games as the Reds amassed a remarkable 99 points.

The following season proved far more testing for Liverpool as injuries to key players disrupted the side’s rhythm. Salah, however, remained a constant threat and carried much of the attacking burden. He ended as the club’s top scorer once again, netting 22 goals in the league and pushing Harry Kane all the way in the race for the Golden Boot. His ability to keep producing goals despite Liverpool’s struggles highlighted his importance to the team. Even in a year where the defence was repeatedly reshuffled and results wavered, Salah’s relentlessness in front of goal kept Liverpool in contention for Champions League qualification, which they secured with a late surge.

Salah returned to his dazzling best in 2021/22, beginning the campaign in devastating form. In October he struck stunning solo goals in consecutive matches against Manchester City and Watford, underlining why he was regarded as the Premier League’s most unplayable forward. He missed only one league game, due to contracting Covid-19, and finished the domestic season with 22 goals from 37 appearances, sharing the Golden Boot with Son Heung-min. Across all competitions he hit 31 goals in 51 games as Liverpool pushed for an unprecedented quadruple. The Reds ultimately fell just short, winning both domestic cups and narrowly missing out on the league and Champions League, but Salah’s contribution was immense. With just a year remaining on his contract, speculation about his future was intense, yet in July 2022 he committed to a new three-year deal that made him the highest-paid player in the club’s history — a fitting reward for a forward who had already etched his name among Liverpool’s all-time greats.

Despite Liverpool falling below the standards they had set in previous years during the 2022/23 season, Salah’s own form remained at an elite level. He once again proved to be the team’s most reliable source of goals, breaking the thirty-goal barrier in all competitions for the third successive campaign. His most dazzling display came in the Champions League group stage away to Rangers, where he struck a hat-trick in just seven minutes after coming off the bench — the fastest treble in the competition’s history. Salah’s durability was equally impressive. He featured in all 38 league games, underlining his consistency and importance at a time when injuries elsewhere disrupted the team. By the season’s end he had moved into joint-fifth place on Liverpool’s all-time scoring list with 186 goals, level with Steven Gerrard. The achievement was even more remarkable given the efficiency with which he reached the landmark - Salah needed only 305 appearances, compared with Gerrard’s 710. Although Liverpool missed out on Champions League qualification, Salah’s combination of goals, assists, and relentless work ethic ensured that the team remained competitive. He finished the league campaign with 19 goals and 12 assists, placing him among the division’s top attacking contributors once more.

In the summer of 2024 Liverpool resisted a £150 million bid from Saudi side Al Ittihad, underlining Salah’s continued importance to the side. In the 2023/24 campaign he was once more the Reds’ leading scorer in the Premier League, finishing with eighteen goals and adding nine assists, a reminder of his ability not only to find the net but also to create for others. His consistency stood out in a season of transition, as he passed double figures for goals in the league for the seventh year in succession. January brought the African Cup of Nations, but Salah’s involvement with Egypt was cruelly cut short when he suffered a hamstring injury in only his second game of the tournament. His absence was felt both by club and country, and although he returned before the end of the campaign, he was never quite at his sharpest in the closing months. The season ended with Jurgen Klopp announcing his departure after nine years in charge, sparking rumours that Salah might follow him out of Anfield with renewed interest from Saudi Arabia. Instead, he gave little indication of wanting to leave. When Arne Slot was appointed as Klopp’s successor, Salah quickly committed himself to the new era. Reports from pre-season training spoke volumes about his professionalism, with the Egyptian coming first in the squad’s fitness tests and demonstrating once again the standards that had made him one of Liverpool’s most reliable performers of the modern era.

Salah remained Liverpool’s talisman in 2024/25, producing a campaign that ranked among the finest of his career. He finished as the Premier League’s top scorer with 29 goals and added 18 assists, giving him 47 goal involvements – the highest total ever recorded in a 38-game season. By December Salah had already reached double figures in both goals and assists, the earliest any player had done so in the Premier League. That achievement also made him the first man to register at least ten goals and ten assists in six separate league seasons, moving beyond the standard previously set by Wayne Rooney. By season’s end Salah had overtaken Billy Liddell to move fourth on the club’s all time goalscorers' list with 229.

Salah's contract entered its final six months in January 2025. He confirmed that there had been no progress on an extension, stating he was “probably more out than in.” Speculation on his future was rife, but on 11 April 2025 Liverpool announced that he had signed a two-year extension, committing him to the club until the summer of 2027. The new deal also ended talk of a lucrative move to the Saudi Pro League, signalling Salah’s intention to continue building his legacy at Anfield.

Individual honours reflected Salah's dominance in 2024/25 as Liverpool won the Premier League title for a second time. He was named the Football Writers' Footballer of the Year and won the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award for a record third time. Now firmly established among the club’s greatest figures, Salah closed the campaign as one of the defining players of the modern Premier League era.