Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain admits he was shocked after Mohamed Salah made his Liverpool exit announcement. The 32-year-old also shared what the Egyptian was like as a team-mate behind the scenes.
Salah will call time on his nine-year tenure at Anfield when this campaign comes to an end, having cemented himself as a Reds legend with a host of individual and collective accolades and over 250 goals to his name.
He arrived in the summer of 2017 and later in the same window, Oxlade-Chamberlain joined him having left Arsenal behind. The pair spent six seasons as team-mates under manager Jurgen Klopp.
With Salah confirming his imminent departure in an emotional video addressed to fans and colleagues who have helped him during his time at Liverpool, Oxlade-Chamberlain has expressed shock while highlighting what makes the 33-year-old so special.
Speaking on In The Mixer brought to you by Sky Bet, Oxlade-Chamberlain said: "I was a bit shocked because he is the type of guy that you just think will never stop. What Mo has achieved there at Liverpool is unprecedented.
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"It is surreal to think that he's gone to heights that are just astronomical. It's Ronaldo-type numbers, but before Liverpool, he'd had a lot of setbacks. Gone to Chelsea, it didn't quite work out. He'd gone to Italy and then he comes to Liverpool and he just turned into an animal.
"But he probably thinks it's the best time for him. For our team he was just incredible. He's one of those players, I always say they're special players, where if I'm having a bad game I'm useless to everyone.
"He could have a terrible game and score two goals and win you the game. That's special. If I'm not feeling it on the day, I'm not scoring two goals. Everything needs to be clicking. If he was having a good game or a bad game, he had a mindset and a mentality that was just elite to not get too hard on himself, doesn't get too high, doesn't get too low, always ready in the moment.
"That's a special attribute that I saw from him. And that is the only way you can produce what he produces, not to mention that he lives and breathes the game. Off the pitch, like every little stone is turned. In terms of professionals, I have never seen anyone do what Mo does every hour of the day to the point where I straight up look at him and think, 'I don't think I could do that and fair play.'
"He comes off the pitch, he's installed ice baths, ice chambers, cryo chambers in his house and red light therapy and he is from one thing to the next. He definitely doesn't play golf or anything in his free time. He ain't got time for anything else!
"The number of times I used to before training get up for a coffee, I'm seeing Mo running through a tunnel before training with his hat on, like Rocky. I'm putting my window up going, 'Mo, what are you doing?' He's like, 'I'm just loosening off before training.'
"He'll go to training, he's the first in the gym. Then he trains how he trains. He's in the gym doing treatment, therapy, whatever, doing another gym session. It is an obsession. You've got to give someone like that credit."
