Mohamed Salah: Basel Coach Reveals How Terrible Liverpool Superstar's First Training Session Was

Champions League and two-time Golden Boot winner Mohamed Salah is one of the world's most feared forwards, but his breakthrough spell with Basel in Switzerland

Champions League and two-time Golden Boot winner Mohamed Salah is one of the world's most feared forwards, but his breakthrough spell with Basel in Switzerland got off to such a bad start, that his coaches thought they might have signed his twin brother by accident. 

The Liverpool superstar was snapped up by the Swiss club back in 2012. He had impressed as a youngster coming through the ranks at Egyptian club El Mokawloon, before attracting the attentions of several clubs in Europe. 

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However, the Egyptian's rise to world-class status apparently got off to a false start as he dramatically failed to impress his new coaches upon his arrival in Switzerland. 

His then manager Heiko Vogel has revealed that Salah's first training session was so bad, they questioned whether he had a twin.

Speaking with Goal and SPOX Vogel explained: "I told him [Salah]: '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 [Georg Heitz - Basel sporting director] and I had already been talking him up for the tiniest things, saying stuff like: 'did you see that pass?"

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The German manager added that things got suddenly a whole lot better for the youngster after he bedded in following those hard first sessions with Basel.

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 the heat of North Africa.

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

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Despite such a bumpy start, Salah would go on to play 79 times in two years for the Swiss giants, helping them to win back-to-back domestic league titles, before Chelsea made a move for the winger's services in 2014. 

After a frustrating time at Stamford Bridge, the Egyptian went on to reassert himself as one of Europe's best talents during hugely successful spells in Italy with Fiorentina and Roma, before Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool finally made their move for him in 2017.