Mo Salah becoming one of Liverpool’s greatest ever players felt inevitable by the end, but his first conversation with Jurgen Klopp shows there were still questions to answer at the very beginning.
The Egyptian King arrived from Roma in 2017 and leaves us with 257 goals, 119 assists and a place among the most important footballers in our history.
Yet before all of that, before the records, trophies and Anfield farewell, there was a discussion about where he would actually fit into a forward line already containing Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho.
Speaking in Salah: Farewell To The King, Liverpool FC’s documentary on YouTube, Klopp recalled the first tactical conversation he had with our No.11.
Klopp said: “Our first conversation, I know exactly how it was. He asked me, ‘Where am I supposed to play?’ and I said, ‘Right wing.’ He said, ‘Yeah, but Sadio is playing there.’”
Our former boss then explained how quickly the pieces started moving.
Klopp added: “‘He’s really good.’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Don’t you think it’s better he plays on the left wing?’ ‘Yeah, of course,’ I said, ‘but there’s Phil Coutinho.’ ‘Oh, yeah.’ ‘Phil can play No.10.’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘And then Bobby…’ and bam.”
That exchange is fascinating because it shows Salah wasn’t walking into Liverpool assuming everything would be built around him.
Salah remembered Klopp’s plan in simpler terms, saying: “The plan is you play there, Sadio you play there, and yeah, we go. We give it a try and we try to achieve big things.”
That “try” quickly became one of the most exciting attacking units many of us have ever watched.
Klopp said: “We had not a lot of games with all four, but I enjoyed each second of it, it was ridiculous.”
Klopp has already described Salah as one of the all-time greats and said our No.11 was part of the best front three in world football for a long time.
This latest detail only adds to that legacy, because before Salah became untouchable at Liverpool, Klopp had to find a way to fit together four elite attacking minds.
He did, and we all got to enjoy the results.
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