The No.11 announced last week he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season, bringing to a close a remarkable story that has – to date – yielded 255 goals in 435 appearances and nine winner’s medals.

However, those numbers only begin to scratch the surface of what Salah has achieved at Anfield in the nine years since his transfer from AS Roma in June 2017 – and when he does finally bring the curtain down on his Reds career, he will do so as a bona fide club legend.

Having had the chance to work with the Egyptian for almost two seasons, Slot has witnessed first-hand the professionalism and character traits that have enabled him to maintain his position as one of the planet’s best over the last decade.

“I knew, so it wasn’t new news to me, but I think it was very good to hear and see all the reactions of his teammates, but also from everywhere around the world, for what he has done for this football club and for football in general,” the boss said of the announcement, when speaking to Liverpoolfc.com at the AXA Training Centre.

“I’ve mainly seen this as a fan, so watching football, seeing him playing at Liverpool, doing all these special things that he’s done for this club. Of course, in the fixtures against [Manchester] City but in all the other fixtures as well. He broke record after record after record.

“Then I started working with him and already the first day I was impressed by his professionalism because as with any season, it starts with a test that shows how much they did in the off-season and he beat all of them. He was the fittest player that came back, and I think that’s the ideal situation that you want as a manager: that your star player comes back as fit as he did.

“He had nothing to prove, but for himself he had a lot to prove because Mo always thinks he has to prove something every three days. That hunger never stops and that is something that I find most special about him.

“So many good players around the world [and] he’s definitely one of them in the last 10 years, that everybody talks about being one of the best there is and was in the last 10 years. To show that hunger every three days, that professionalism, that commitment to the club, to the team, to wanting to score again, always wanting to play – when you take him out three minutes before the end, he’s like, ‘Maybe I could have scored one extra!’ – that is what stands out for me.

“Everything he’s done for the club, but the moment I started working with him I knew it after one day, let alone after a few weeks or months, that it isn’t a coincidence that he’s been so influential in the last 10 years in football.”