After much deliberation over the final fee, and after a few days of tracking flights from Cairo to the UK, Mohamed Salah is officially a Liverpool player. And it was announced in style, with a little dig at the nonsense on Twitter.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) June 22, 2017
The Egyptian winger scored 19 goals for Roma last season and looks like the type of player that should shine in Jurgen Klopp's system, something many Liverpool fans are excited about judging by the reaction to his official announcement as a new signing.
Salah was photographed holding up a Liverpool shirt with his new squad number 11 on the back after he put pen-to-paper on a contract on Thursday.
CONFIRMED: Mohamed Salah joins Liverpool on a 5-year deal and will wear the Number 11 for the Reds next season. pic.twitter.com/wKsG8IDcfG
— Anfield HQ (@AnfieldHQ) June 22, 2017
Welcome Salah ?? pic.twitter.com/Jfw2Rg4xlh
— Anything Liverpool (@Anything_LFC) June 22, 2017
You may know that Roberto Firmino was Liverpool's number 11 since he signed two years ago, but he will now occupy the #9 shirt at Anfield which has not exactly been a lucky charm in recent times with the likes of Ricky Lambert, Iago Aspas, and Andy Carroll, failing to shine with 9 on their back, but Firmino is unlikely to experience any downturn in form having settled in to life on Merseyside.
That said, Anthony Martial was forced to swap his #9 shirt at Manchester United for #11 when Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived, and he was reportedly pretty pissed off about it, with some even linking his less impressive second season at the club with that decision, but at the end of the day it's a number on his bloody back, and if that's seriously a big problem, then he's got far bigger problems to worry about.
It seems highly unlikely that Liverpool would have given Salah the squad number of Roberto Firmino without his consent, unlike Manchester United with Martial, so seemingly Brazilian Bobby was happy to take #9, no doubt due to his regular occupation of the striker's role in Klopp's team last season.
