Mohamed Salah Was So Bad At First Basel Training Session That Coaches Thought He ‘Had A Twin Brother’

Mohamed Salah's stint at Basel started horribly wrong after coaches admitted that his first training session had the club question if they had bought the right player.

The Swiss side snapped up the Liverpool star from El Mokawloon in 2012 and soon realised that he initially found it difficult to adapt to the demands of his new side.

Heiko Vogel, who was Basel manager at the time, was shocked at the 27-year-old Egyptian superstar's performance in training and thought he had a "twin brother."

He told Goal and SPOX: "Gegge [Heitz] and I told him: 'Listen, just train as you like -- we've already made our decision anyway.'

"Then he trained on the first day; everyone watched the session and we wondered if he might have a twin brother!

"The second day was a bit better, but not good. Gegge and I had already been talking him up for the tiniest things, saying stuff like: 'did you see that pass?'"

Vogel admitted that when the third day of training came along, the Egyptian winger "destroyed everything" and "he was really unstoppable."

He continued: "[The first two days] he wasn't nervous. He was confident, but immersed in a new world.

"He had to acclimate himself in the truest sense of the word. He came to us from hot North Africa.

"It's always difficult when you get into an environment where you do not really understand the language.

"[But] I have rarely seen such a dominant appearance in two-on-five [on that third day]. It was absolutely extraordinary.

"He was so agile, so explosive.

"If he had the ball on his left foot, it was a goal. But Momo always had an eye for his teammates as well.

"After that performance, everyone knew why we wanted to sign him."

Salah would leave Basel in 2014 for Chelsea and endured an ill-fated spell at Stamford Bridge before moving to Roma in 2016.

Former Manchester United and Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho opened up about Salah's struggles at the Blues in March, along with claiming that he was not responsible for axing him from the club.

Will Salah and Co fire Liverpool to the Premier League title this season?

Let us know in the comments.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Liverpool, Football News, Anfield, Football, REds, Premier League, Mohamed Salah

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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