Mohamed Salah Wins BBC African Footballer Of The Year 2017

“The good thing is that he is still young, there is a lot of space for improvement, a lot of potential still that we can work on, but that’s how it should be. It’s a big pleasure, to be honest, to work with him.”

“I am very happy to be like them in winning this award,” said the Egyptian, who follows compatriots Mohamed Barakat (2005) and the legendary Aboutreika (2008) in receiving the trophy.

Salah, the Premier League’s top scorer with 13 goals, has enjoyed a stellar year for both club and country.

In early 2017, the forward was the central figure for Egypt as they finished runners-up at the Africa Cup of Nations.

He also had a hand in all seven of the goals that took the Pharaohs to their first World Cup since 1990 – assisting two and scoring five, including thestoppage-time penalty against Congo that qualified them for Russia.

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As well as representing the Egyptian national team since 2011, he also participated in the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cupand the 2012 Summer Olympics. He won the Swiss Super League in his first season with Basel, and was awarded the CAF Most Promising African Talent of the Year in 2012. In 2013, he was awarded the SAFP Golden Player award for being the best player in the Swiss Super League. Salah played for Chelsea, Fiorentina (on loan) and for Roma before transferring to Liverpool in 2017.

Salah made 11 appearances for the Egypt U-20 team and Egypt U-23 team, representing Egypt in both 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup and the 2012 Summer Olympics, scoring in all three of the team’s group matches in the latter tournament, helping them to the quarter-finals.

On 3 September 2011, Salah made his debut for the Egypt national football team in the 2–1 away defeat by Sierra Leone. He scored his first goal for Egypt’s first team in the 3–0 win against Niger one month later. He later scored a goal in the 93rd minute in stoppage time against Guinea to give Egypt an important 3–2 away victory in a 2014 World Cup qualifier.

On 9 June 2013, Salah scored a hat-trick in a 4–2 away win against Zimbabwe as Egypt won their fourth consecutive match in the World Cup qualifiers.  A week later in the following match, he scored the only goal away to Mozambique, putting Egypt into the final qualifying group.  Salah later scored his sixth goal in a qualification match to the joint-top scorer among all African teams in the qualification stages.

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Salah was the top scorer for Egypt with five goals during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, including both goals in the decisive 2–1 victory over Congo, one of which was a penalty in the last minute to make the Pharaohs reach their first World Cup finals since 1990.