FeatureThank you, Mo Salah - a fond farewell to the Egyptian King
"I will give 100 per cent and give everything for the club," the 25-year-old Salah vowed.
There is keeping your word, and then there is what followed from him over the next nine years.
The Egyptian who arrived with a point to prove departs Anfield with a near-unmatched legacy.
There is the success he helped deliver – enough to cement himself in club folklore by itself – but then the individual statistics that put him down as one of the best to have pulled on the shirt.
Greatness has been right before our eyes and the pleasure was ours.
Where do you even begin?
257 goals and 120 assists from 442 appearances.
Only two players – Ian Rush and Roger Hunt – have scored more goals for Liverpool.
He is the Reds' all-time leading Premier League scorer and assister, too.
The 'serial winner' tag probably underwhelms the No.11, who lifted two league titles, the Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FA Cup and a pair of Carabao Cups during his time on Merseyside.
On top of that, he claimed three PFA Players' Player of the Year awards and the same number of FWA Footballer of the Year honours.
That seemingly insatiable hunger to be the best – individually and collectively – grew season upon season.
The forward made his aforementioned pledge when returning for a second spell in England, after a challenging stint at Chelsea. That June 2017 signing from AS Roma was now a different person and player, proving so right away.
His goal on debut at Watford was one of 44 in a breathtaking first term at Liverpool, the second-highest tally in club history.
Finish No.19 – a beautiful curler past Everton in L4 – won the 2018 FIFA Puskas Award and served as part of the push for the first of his four Premier League Golden Boots.
The world-renowned attacking partnership of Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane had been formed, the perfect concoction of pace, skill, work-rate and ruthlessness.
The front three spearheaded Liverpool to the 2018 Champions League final, which ended in tears for Salah following an early exit because of injury and then the eventual 3-1 defeat by Real Madrid.
Development was a constant theme of his story at the Reds, though, and he took pride in adding more and more layers to the skillset with that elite mindset of his.
The agony of being forced off in Kyiv resulted in a stronger player – both mentally and physically – returning for 2018-19 and avenging his heartbreak from 12 months prior.
Liverpool somehow missed out on the league title after amassing 97 points but made their way to the showpiece of European football again. Salah smashed a second-minute penalty past Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid, to begin the process of a sixth European Cup being returned to Anfield.
The Reds' long wait for a top-flight crown was something Salah referenced in his first interview, and he played his part in ending the 30 years of waiting in 2019-20.
Such were the standards he set, his total of 23 goals that season was the second-lowest of his Liverpool career. It included the famous clincher against Manchester United that led to Anfield really believing.
The defence of that title was testing for a multitude of reasons but Salah made a vow on social media to 'fight like champions, until the very end'. Duly, Jürgen Klopp's men produced a late surge to finish third in the standings – a concept that had seemed far-fetched at one point.
A leader in the dressing room who set an example to follow, Salah had also taken his game to a whole new level with an enhancement of his ability to create.
Pursuing a quadruple in 2021-22, he won the Premier League Golden Boot again and a first Playmaker prize, awarded to the player with the most assists.
By this point, he was the complete forward and a genius with the ball at his feet, as evidenced in memorable individual efforts against Manchester City and Watford.
The following season, Salah scored twice in a 7-0 thrashing of Manchester United – his favourite opponent in a scoring sense and yet another reason why Kopites loved him so much – to overtake the great Robbie Fowler and move to the summit of Liverpool's Premier League scorers list. It had taken Salah 61 fewer games to reach Fowler's tally of 128.
Klopp's era ended with a certain Egyptian top and joint-top of the team's scoring and assist rankings respectively for 2023-24.
In 2024-25, with Arne Slot now in the dugout, Salah produced one of the greatest individual seasons and, from the March onwards, Gordon Hodgson was no longer the Reds' third-highest scorer.
Salah produced 57 goal involvements (34 goals, 23 assists) from 52 appearances and ended it by lifting the Premier League trophy for the second time – but on this occasion in front of fans.
"This is what we wanted to deliver to our fans more than anything," he said in a social media post after the title was secured.
In the midst of what turned out to be his final campaign at Liverpool, he became the Premier League record-holder for goal involvements for a single club and the first African player to hit 50 Champions League strikes.
On March 24, Salah announced the decision to close the book on his iconic Reds career, telling the supporters: "Leaving is never easy. You gave me the best time of my life. I will be always one of you."
And so began the richly deserved flood of tributes from around the footballing world to a true master of his craft.
'The greatest', 'the best of the best', 'king' and 'legend' – some of the terms used by his peers.
It all culminated in an emotional farewell at Anfield on Sunday, when the Egyptian King was rightly celebrated.
He really did give everything.
Thank you, Mo.