In the Nile Delta village of Nagrig, residents love local son Mohamed Salah from a distance, with ructions between the Egyptian super striker and long-time English club Liverpool doing little to dim his lustre at home.
“Thanks to him I can dream,” 16-year-old Mohamed Ahmed told AFP as he stepped onto a pitch at the Nagrig sports complex where Salah first honed his talents before making his improbable journey to some of football’s most dizzying heights.
“I’m so happy to play here,” Ahmed said, referring to the complex renamed in Salah’s honour, where young people from the village and beyond come to bask in the footballer’s legend, greeted by a mural of the star as they enter.
That image of Salah, triumphant in the red strip of his Merseyside team, is as close as many will get to the hometown icon in Nagrig where, while everyone knows his name, few get the chance to meet him. Elsewhere in the village there is little trace of him.
“When he comes, it’s at night so that no one sees him,” said Asma, a young student who gave only her first name.
The 33-year-old Egypt international spoke out against Liverpool manager Arne Slot after being left as an unused substitute against Leeds last week.
Dropped from Liverpool’s squad for their Champions League tie at Inter Milan on Tuesday, Salah has been subsequently linked to a move to the lucrative Saudi Pro League.
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