Only Mo Salah

An Intimate Portrait of the Egyptian King

By: Melissa Reddy

Raw, authoritative and compelling, this is an intimate portrait of the Egyptian King - a biography that matches Mo's magnificent career.

Mohamed Salah is one of the greatest footballers of all time. Records have been battered and bettered with such ferocity that there is a special archive of stats under the headline 'Only Mo Salah'. Yet his influence and impact stretches far beyond just goals, triumphs and trophies. Salah is a cultural behemoth; a man who means many different things to a diverse spread of people across the globe - not least in Egypt, where he has become a symbol of hope. However, through all of the success and exposure, Salah has remained true to himself, despite being largely misunderstood.

In this extraordinary biography packed with untold stories, acclaimed football writer Melissa Reddy paints a true portrait of Salah by speaking to teammates, friends, coaches, his local community, sporting directors, backroom staff and more. Reddy explores how he beat the odds to transcend his humble background in rural Nagrig along with the early sacrifices that led him to Cairo and onto Basel, his true experience at Chelsea before his rebirth with Fiorentina and Roma, which allowed him to reach his full potential at Liverpool, where he made being extraordinary the norm. All of this while carrying Egypt's national team on his shoulders.

Alongside the success, there is an honest journey through Mo's lowest moments and missteps too, backlit by the millions of people leaning heavily on him. Only Mo Salah climbs well beyond how a kid from a remote village scaled unimaginable heights to become a history-maker on and off the pitch, it showcases why Salah has a formidable claim to being the most important footballer on the planet.