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Mohamed Salah’s personal security guard has opened up on the difficulties he faces protecting one of the biggest names in football.
Salah is not only idolised by Liverpool supporters, but is an iconic figure back in his home country of Egypt due to performances on the pitch and generosity off it.
The 31-year-old has been known to give back to the people in the country he grew up in, donating money to various causes in years gone by. Such acts have left those in Egypt desperate to meet the Reds’ No.11, who have not been afraid to go to extreme lengths to come face-to-face with their hero.
This has resulted in Salah being left in somewhat dangerous positions at times, which the man responsible for his safety has opened up on. Indeed, speaking to the 5ASide Podcast, Karim Abdou said: “He is a ghost. He cannot be seen.
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“One time, he went to pray in a mosque. Nobody knew where he lived and somebody followed him. He [the guy following] put in a WhatsApp group, ‘Mo Salah lives in that address’. I walked after him and 20,000 people showed up to his house after five minutes. These 20,000 were just people who lived in the community. The rest of the people, when they heard, were driving [there].
“When he won the Champions League, that was the most crazy time. I was supposed to be with him, but he took an extra few days off and went to his home base. It was Eid [al-Fitr] and that prayer is thousands of people in the street because it is like Christmas here.
“When he came, 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. Every single Egyptian media, TV, newspaper, it was like the final of the World Cup. They were lining up in front of his house.
“At the same time, I was at a hotel with the Egyptian national team. He [Salah] was supposed to finish the two days off and come there. Out of nowhere, he was inside the house and could not even open the door. They tried to escape him out the back door, but they couldn’t.”
Explaining the cautious approach he adopts at all times as regards Salah’s well-being, Abdou added: “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.”
He added: “I’ll give you one secret. Salah helped the community., he paid millions and millions for sick people. He bought ambulance for the cities. He helped people who were short of money to get married. If somebody needs surgery, somebody has struggles, somebody has bills, so added to all this, he’s being treated like, people write on a paper and give it to him because people think he’s going to solve all their problems.”
