Mohamed Salah's ex-teammate says Egyptian always dreamt of being a Liverpool legend

Micah Richards has revealed that Mohamed Salah always wanted to be a Liverpool legend even when the pair played together at Serie A club Fiorentina.

The Egyptian winger came close to a move to Anfield in 2014 but joined Premier League rivals Chelsea instead, where he struggled to make an impression under Jose Mourinho.

Salah was then loaned out to Fiorentina, where he produced a string of outstanding displays. He then moved to Roma, where he continued to enhance his reputation as one of Italian football's best attackers. His consistent performances earned him a transfer to Liverpool in the summer of 2017 for a fee believed to be in the region of £43m, which was a club-record deal at the time.

Speaking to Liverpool Echo, as cited by Anfield Watch's Twitter account, Richards admitted that he's been stunned by Salah's consistency at Anfield despite acknowledging that the Egyptian was a 'superstar in the making' at the time.

"It was always Mo Salah’s dream to be a Liverpool legend. I played with him at Fiorentina and when we used to go out for coffee, he talked about his ambition to move to Anfield eventually.

"I knew when Liverpool signed him in 2017 they had a superstar in the making, but even I’ve been stunned by the number of goals he has scored. He needs four more to leapfrog Steven Gerrard [186] and get into the club’s all-time top five."

ANFIELD WATCH VERDICT

Salah has well and truly achieved legendary status at Liverpool for his exploits since joining the club in 2017. He's arguably the greatest player of the Jurgen Klopp era and has been a model professional during his time at the club, having won every major trophy domestically as well as in Europe.

The 30-year-old also has several individual accolades to show for his time at Anfield and has shown no signs of slowing down, having notched up 27 goals across 44 games in all competitions for Liverpool this season. Salah signed a long-term contract until 2025 to become the highest-paid player in the club's history last summer and will be at the centre of Klopp's rebuild this summer as the German looks to make Liverpool a force to be reckoned with once again.