Mohamed Salah is one of the best players in world football and his numbers over the last decade have been nothing but astonishing.
Appearing for clubs European clubs such as Chelsea, Basel, Roma and Liverpool, the legacy he has made for himself in Europe is undoubtedly going to last long into the future.
And for a player who isn’t himself European, nor from South America, it cannot be understated how impressive that is, spending such a significant part of his life on a different continent.
Salah reveals the secret behind his success
While on holiday during the international break, Salah went to the Sharjah International Book Fair as a guest of honour and spoke to Egyptian broadcaster WinWin about his enjoyment away from football.
He said: “I started to pay more attention to reading and culture during my time playing with Chelsea. I believe that reading is essential for any athlete. At the very least, he should be informed about what is related to his field.
“Reading in psychology, for example, plays a major role in the success of athletes. In my opinion, behind every sporting or professional success is a broad culture, and for me, I live my life in a way that suits me, not according to what others impose, because it is my own life.”
Yes, you read that right. In addition to being the face of the Premier League, and producing consistent attacking numbers every season, Salah’s ambition to be the best he can be goes beyond keeping in peak physical condition.
Mental health has risen on the social agenda in recent times, and while reading books is certainly a great way to de-stress away from the football field, it is another thing altogether to look into sports psychology in an attempt to improve as a player.
The importance of European culture in Salah’s endeavour to succeed
While Europeans are often incredibly fascinated by culture in different countries, it is even more interesting to see things from Salah’s perspective.
In professional football, it is often the European leagues that are considered to be the most elite. Most specifically the Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A and the Bundesliga, not in any particular order.
So when Salah made the first move of his career, he immediately looked at how European players got the most out of their game.
He added: “Since I left Egypt for Basel, when I started reading, the first thing that came to my mind was the European player, why does he go to training early and go to the gym and dedicate his life to football? I asked myself why they do that?
“There is a difference between Egyptian, Arab and European players, so I wanted to succeed like them, then I wanted to achieve greater success than them so that people would say that there is a player from the Arab world who was able to excel over the rest of the players.”
While many fans will credit Salah’s physique for his success, it may be down to his deep-seated ambition to be the best by learning from the best.
Liverpool may be on the verge of losing the Egyptian this season, as a result of the club letting him go down to the final year of his contract, while fresh talks of renewed terms have yet to reach an agreement.
However, the Reds have undoubtedly had Salah’s best years of his career and his ambition has been essential to making each season successful.
