Salah coach in Basel tells the secrets of his discovery and professional beginnings

German coach Haikou Fogel, who opened the way for Egyptian star Mohamed Salah to European professionalism when he joined him to Swiss Basel, revealed the secrets of his choice and beginnings with the team that represented him the gateway to Rome and then Liverpool.

Vogel confirmed that Salah, who joined Basel in 2012, was admired and questioned at the beginning, before showing his level and abilities, and later moved to Roma and then to Liverpool in the summer of 2017, where he shone his star and was chosen as the best player in the Premier League in his first season, and a goal for him In his two seasons in northern England.

Last season, the 27-year-old also helped his team win the Champions League for the sixth time in their history at the expense of Tottenham.He played a pivotal role in the 2017/18 season in reaching the Champions League final before losing to Real Madrid.

Vogel, who oversaw Basel between 2011 and 2012, told the German-language Spox website that Salah was interested initially when he scored two goals against his team during a friendly against Egypt under 23.

"It seemed obvious from the start to me that he was an exceptional player, but I wondered if he had the mentality (to be successful in Europe)? I didn't know," he said. "I would lie if I said I was expecting a huge world career."

After that game, Vogel asked Basel scouts to follow Salah in Egypt, where he was defending the colors of the Arab Contractors Club, and send him videos of matches played by the right wing player.

"I wondered if the tapes were accelerated," Vogel told the German website, referring to Salah's tremendous speed on the pitch.

"He had everything: speed, ending the attack, left foot," he said.

But Salah's start with the team was not up to the expectations of Vogel, who explained "trained on the first day, everyone followed the class and we began to wonder if he has a twin brother," referring to the big difference between Salah's performance on videos, and the performance he made during the training session .

"The second day was a bit better, but it wasn't good. Then the third day came, and everything was destroyed, it was impossible to stop it."

"He was very graceful. He got the ball on his left foot and turned into a goal. After this performance, everyone realized we wanted to sign him."

Vogel, who was sacked in October 2012 after months of domestic duality, stressed his understanding of Salah's difficulties initially. "He was very confident, but he was entering a new world," he said.

"He came to us from the heat of North Africa. It is always difficult to cope with an environment where his language is not fluent, and he was not able to speak English at all. He wanted to learn German, but I said to him, 'Wait a little, hero.' Learn English and it will be enough for you. "