He may now earn £90,000-a-week and be wanted by a host of clubs around Europe, but Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah has remained true to his roots.
The ‘Egyptian king’ has enjoyed a quite extraordinary season on Merseyside, with club and league records tumbling as he has led Liverpool to the Champions League semi-finals, where the Reds are searching for a sixth European Cup trophy.
The 25-year-old forward has plundered an incredible 40 goals in 45 games in all competitions during 2017/18 – becoming only the third player to score 40 in a single season for Liverpool, after Roger Hunt (1961/62) and Ian Rush (1983/84 and 1986/87).
He leads the way in the Premier League with 30 goals, making him the first African player to reach that mark in a campaign – beating Didier Drogba’s previous best of 29.
Mohamed Salah celebrates the crucial goal in the Champions League second leg that set Liverpool on their way to the semi-finals.
His exploits saw him pass another milestone just days ago when he was named Premier League Player of the Month for March – becoming the first player to win it three times in a single season.
But away from the superstar form he’s shown during his amazing debut campaign in England, Salah is a shy man who shuns the spotlight.
Despite now being one of the best players on the planet, Salah remains deeply entrenched in his roots – which are 2,400 miles away from his current base in the northwest of England, as The Sun found out.
Salah left Egypt for Europe and Swiss side Basel in 2012.
Salah was born in the Egyptian town of Nagrig, just north of capital Cairo. From where he was raised to where he is currently setting the world alight seems like light years apart.
But despite the fact he left Egypt and his boyhood club El Mokawloon SC, also known as Arab Contractors, for Switzerland and Basel in 2010, Salah never left the memory of his homeland behind.
He still regularly returns to Egypt every Ramadan, and has used his fame and fortune to fund many projects and pay for numerous items back home to improve health and welfare for the people of Nagrig.
“Salah is a refined person who, despite his popularity, has never forgotten about his town,” Maher Shatiyah, board manager of the Mohamed Salah Charity Foundation, told The Sun, who sent reporters to Nagrig to speak to locals about their favourite son.
Salah scored a crucial goal against Congo in October to send Egypt to their first World Cup since 1990.
“[He has provided] many forms of assistance, the first of which was a series of foodstuff outlets under the municipality’s management, as well as the town’s first ambulance unit.
“Salah had always subsisted unable fellow villagers, but wanted to [formalise] that assistance. The establishment of the charity caters for a larger number of families, [he spends between] £2,000 and £3,500 monthly.”
Salah won the African Player of the Year award in January.
Another story recounts Salah’s reaction when his family were burgled – instead of encouraging his family to press charges, Salah instead helped the thief by providing money and helping him find a job.
“Salah had that dream of becoming rich so as to help his people,” Dr Alaa al-Ghamrawi, who directs a national programme to fight rheumatoid arthritis, said.
