Before the outrageous goalscoring contribution or sumptuous interplay, Jurgen Klopp knew he was on to a winner with Mohamed Salah.
Some eyebrows were raised when Klopp was so adamant to sign a Chelsea reject last summer and even Liverpool owner John W. Henry expressed some concerns that the club was in danger of overpaying for an unproven player.
However 10 months later, Salah not only looks like a snip at £37 million but also appears to be a legitimate threat to the Ballon d’Or duopoly which has been enjoyed by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi over the past decade.
Salah’s quest to prove his doubters wrong ever since being deemed surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge has led him to the Champions League final with the Reds.
His talent is undeniable but he’s had to work tremendously hard to get where he is.
The Egyptian international possesses a special kind of drive that immediately became obvious to his Liverpool teammates.
Right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold recently explained what it was like to train with Salah and his story about their first day together tells you just what kind of character the forward is.
“The first day of pre-season was just a running session,” Alexander-Arnold told Copa90.
“Not a race, just to see how far you can run really. It gets harder each lap you do so you end up doing quite a bit of running and you drop out when you can’t go any further.
“So everyone has dropped out and it’s just me and him left and he didn’t stop. Nobody was running against him anymore and it was just that hunger to win and to just carry on.
“That’s when I saw it. He just wouldn’t stop…it just seemed his limit was above everyone else’s.”
Salah has scored 43 goals so far this season, chipping in with 13 assists too, and while he’s already been linked with moves to some of the biggest clubs in the world, Liverpool are understandably willing to dig their heels in and refuse any approaches for their £200 million-rated talisman.
