Pep Lijnders has labelled Mo Salah as a ‘leader’ and has praised the exceptional attitude that the Egyptian shows both on and off the pitch.
The former Roma wide man has become recognised as one of the best players in the world in recent years with his impressive performances for Liverpool seeing him break numerous records and win every major trophy possible during his time at Anfield.
The No. 11 is currently away with the Reds squad as they complete some warm weather training and prepare for friendly games against Lyon and AC Milan in Dubai and Jurgen Klopp’s assistant has spoke highly of the Egyptian King.
“Look, if you see Mo Salah being concentrated from the first minute of training until the last minute, showing his dribbling skills, his unpredictability, being a leader, speaking with the young kids, I can only say that so far so good,” Lijnders told The National.
Lijnders also shared details about a game of padel he enjoyed recently with the ex-Chelsea man.
The Dutchman partnered Klopp as they went up against Salah and Thiago Alcantara in the game that is becoming increasingly popular amongst the squad.
“I sat with Mo yesterday in the car for a long time, together with Thiago and Jurgen, after the padel match Jurgen and me won against Mo and Thiago, 6-3; if that comes up in Egyptian press that would be great. Because he has been asking for months to play and now that we played, I haven’t heard a word from him the last two days,” he added.
“He is the guy who goes out of his comfort zone. Nothing good happens in the comfort zone and he goes out of it all the time. He left Egypt, it wasn’t easy, a lot of setbacks, and with time and with his character and with his personality, became a leader in my opinion. Not just a leader on the pitch but also a leader in the dressing room.
“He’s such an example for the world, how the world could look and how he deals with situations. We’re really proud that he has signed with us again, that he’s with us, that he’s one of our leaders. I always look at him, if he trains how he trains, I always see him training so well.”
It’s great to see the 39-year-old speaking so highly of our star man.
He’s been incredible ever since joining the club from Roma in 2017 and after signing a huge new contract in the summer, it appears that he still has the same hunger and willingness to succeed on Merseyside.
So far this term the 30-year-old has 19 goal contributions in 21 appearances (across all competitions) and he’ll be eager to help fire the side further up the table during the second half of the campaign.
He will also have half an eye on our Champions League knockout tie with Real Madrid as we owe the Spaniards one after losing two of our last three finals in the competition to them.
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