Mohamed Salah admits he had a long-term plan to fulfil his dream of playing for Liverpool.
The Egypt international, who said as a 10-year-old boy playing PlayStation he would almost always pick the Reds as his team, formulated his strategy when he left his homeland to join Basel in Switzerland six years ago.
Liverpool tried to sign the 26-year-old, who became the quickest to 50 goals for the club after a double in his 65th match against Red Star Belgrade last week, in 2014 but were pipped by Chelsea.
However, he finally completed his move, from Roma, last summer and went on to score 44 goals in his debut season.
“It’s famous all over the world – and with a lot of supporters in the Middle East – so I think I first heard of Liverpool when I was 10 or 11,” he told liverpoolfc.com.
“The story of me playing as them on my PlayStation is true; sometimes it was as other teams, but most of the time I was Liverpool.
“Back then, I could never have imagined I’d be here one day, but it was always a dream of mine and you have to try and follow them.
“When I went to Basel from Egypt I had a plan in my mind that I would hopefully one day come to Liverpool.
“There was a chance before, but at the time it didn’t work for both sides.
“When there was interest again last year, I was very interested in coming to Liverpool straight away in my head, but you also have to see what the plan for you is and how you will fit into it.”
