Mohamed Salah’s personal bodyguard has opened up on the extreme measures that are put in place to protect the Liverpool star.
Karim Abdou has worked alongside some of football’s most iconic stars, including Roberto Carlos, Alessandro Del Piero and Angel Di Maria.
However, the bodyguard, who is the former head of security for the Egypt national team, has singled out Salah as his favourite player to work alongside.
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The pair have known each other for the best part of a decade, with Abdou having followed Salah to Italy during his time at Roma, and since seen the attacker become one of the most high-profile players in world football.
And Abdou has explained some of the measures taken to protect the player.
Speaking on the 5ASide Podcast, he explained: "All gifts have to be scanned.
"We don't accept gifts, but sometimes if I take them from people they have to be scanned. You never know what is in the gift. It could make him sick or kill him, you don't know."
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Abdou added that Salah had to be kept a “ghost” in public, due to the potential ramifications of people discovering where he is.
He continued: "He's a ghost, he cannot be seen.
"One time, he went to pray in a mosque. Nobody knew where he lived and somebody followed him and put it in a WhatsApp group, 'Mo Salah lives in that address'.
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“There were like 20,000 people who showed up to his house after five minutes."
The most attention he’d seen the player receive was after Liverpool won the Champions League in 2019 and Salah returned home to celebrate Eid.
"He was supposed to go and pray in the street with everybody and he just won the Champions League so everyone wants to take pictures with him," Abdou added.
The bodyguard offered further insight into how loved Salah is in Egypt.
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He said: "People write on a paper and give it to him because people think he's going to solve all their problems.
"He's paid millions and millions for sick people. He buys ambulances for the city. He helped people who are short of money to get married, pay their bills or to have surgery."
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Featured Image Credit: GettyTopics: Football, Mohamed Salah, Egypt, Liverpool