How Mo Salah has become a global phenomenon by breaking an old rule for football superstars

Because the introduction of official Premier League squad numbers within the 1993/94 season, the attachment of followers to sure numbers has been unmistakeable.

It’s not simply numbers one to 11, both: Arsenal followers can have the identical attachment to Thierry Henry’s 14 as Manchester United followers should Eric Cantona’s 7, whereas the truth that Alan Shearer would have absolutely been an iconic quantity 9 in any shirt quantity period didn’t change the truth that he made the quantity 9 shirt his personal at Newcastle when he had a freer alternative.

Liverpool may not have loved the identical continuity by way of trophies because the Premier League period was ushered in, however one factor remained the identical: The numbers 7 and 9 remained iconic, be it Steve McManaman and Luis Suárez within the former, or Fernando Torres taking the 9 shirt as soon as worn by Robbie Fowler and Ian Rush within the early Premier League years (let’s not dwell on that 2011-2016 run).

There’s one curious outlier, although, and it’s not totally distinctive to the Reds. Till the arrival of Mohamed Salah in 2017, and that breathtaking first season, the quantity 11 shirt at Anfield felt like a little bit of an afterthought. For nearly each quantity 11 at Anfield over the area of 25 years, the quantity 11 was a comfort prize.

Jamie Redknapp wore it for a few years, however he solely inherited it from squad participant Mark Walters as soon as accidents had begun to restrict his motion and solely as soon as managed a 25-game season sporting the quantity.

Vladimir Šmicer was sporting 11 when he scored his vital aim within the 2005 Champions League remaining, however he solely accepted that shirt below duress when Harry Kewell took his favoured 7. Equally, Robbie Fowler wasn’t capable of take the 9 off Djibril Cissé’s again when he returned in January 2006, so six months with 11 it was. Even Roberto Firmino, handed 11 when he joined from Hoffenheim in the direction of the tip of Brendan Rodgers’ tenure, switched to 9 on the earliest alternative.

Salah is completely different, although. He’s the closest Liverpool should a worldwide phenomenon, within the sense of getting visibility amongst individuals who wouldn’t self-identify as soccer followers. And all of this with out having one of many ‘sexier’ squad numbers. You would possibly suppose I’m studying an excessive amount of into this; that the profile of a participant must be sufficient to override the facility of any quantity on the again of their shirt, however we’ve repeatedly seen this isn’t the case.

On the peak of his powers in 1998, Brazil striker Ronaldo launched the R9 Mercurial boot with Nike, carrying the tagline “Ultralight, so your legs could be as quick as your creativeness”. There was no want to aim to chop by the advertising and marketing communicate, although, because the succinct ‘R9’ branding was, for a lot of, extra highly effective than any sentence that surrounded it.

Just a few years later, Ronaldo’s compatriot Ronaldinho had the ‘10R’ Nike Tiempo boots devoted to him. As together with his predecessor, the numbers carried extra than simply an affiliation with the people: whereas the quantity 9 was the true star of the present, the uncatchable striker who was the principle distinction maker, 10 was reserved for the creator who made issues occur and set the tempo (or in Dinho’s case, the Tiempo).

As superclubs have develop into extra top-heavy on the pitch, the worth of the quantity seven for forwards has grown, typically for many who started life as wingers. This energy was finest emphasised by Cristiano Ronaldo, who pushed to finish his 2018 transfer from Actual Madrid to Juventus on the seventh day of the seventh month, even when it was formally accomplished somewhat later.

The quantity 11, although? It’s all the time felt somewhat excluded from the narrative. Even at Manchester United, the place that they had two thrilling huge midfielders inside the area of some years, David Beckham’s seven discovered itself related to a much more seen player-as-brand than Ryan Giggs’ eleven. Beckham even went on to make use of ‘seven’ as a center title for his daughter.

And but at Anfield, it’s the other to what you would possibly anticipate. Sadio Mané is one other distinctive expertise, one other participant with an enormous African fanbase and one other practising Muslim with an enormous profile in sport. One would possibly anticipate the quantity 10 to tip issues within the Senegalese’s favour, however as a substitute it’s Salah who finds himself as extra of a worldwide ‘face’.

Once you’re a child kicking a soccer across the again backyard, you don’t dream of being a quantity 11. The nines and tens are the normal superstars, these whose quantity you need on the again of your duplicate shirt, and also you would possibly settle for 11 in your faculty soccer equipment at a push.

Maybe it’s Salah’s unorthodox path to superstardom, nevertheless, that makes him such a superb match. He didn’t even put on 11 for the primary few years of his European profession, making do with 22 at Basel, 15 at Chelsea, and – throughout his mortgage at Fiorentina – the quantity 74 shirt in honour of the 74 individuals killed on the Port Stated Stadium in Egypt in 2012.

The quantity 11 seems to have given him energy as a lot as he has introduced it out of the shade, adorning his again as he has developed right into a worldwide star at Roma after which Liverpool.

A part of his relatability comes from this path; this refusal to surrender when his huge transfer to Chelsea fell flat and his perception that he may nonetheless rise to the summit.

Maybe that’s the best way we should always have a look at this, then. Sure numbers belong to those that have protagonist standing imparted on them from the very starting, whereas others could be checked out as an invite to surrender on that dream. In Salah’s case, although, he regarded on the message being put out and determined he must be the one to rewrite it.