Mo Salah: Liverpool my dream club
Mohamed Salah claims he had a long-term plan to fulfil his dream of playing for Liverpool.
The Egypt international, who said as a 10-year-old boy playing PlayStation he would almost always pick the Reds as his team, formulated his strategy when he left his homeland to join Basel in Switzerland six years ago.
Liverpool tried to sign the 26-year-old, who became the quickest to 50 goals for the club after a double in his 65th match against Red Star Belgrade last week, in 2014 but were pipped by Chelsea.
However, he finally completed his move, from Roma, last summer and went on to score 44 goals in his debut season.
"It's famous all over the world - and with a lot of supporters in the Middle East - so I think I first heard of Liverpool when I was 10 or 11," he told liverpoolfc.com.
"The story of me playing as them on my PlayStation is true; sometimes it was as other teams, but most of the time I was Liverpool.
"Back then, I could never have imagined I'd be here one day, but it was always a dream of mine and you have to try and follow them.
"When I went to Basel from Egypt I had a plan in my mind that I would hopefully one day come to Liverpool.
"There was a chance before, but at the time it didn't work for both sides.
"When there was interest again last year, I was very interested in coming to Liverpool straight away in my head, but you also have to see what the plan for you is and how you will fit into it."
Salah is likely to feature when Liverpool travel to Arsenal on Saturday evening as even-money favourites with Sky Bet.
The Egyptian is 7/2 favourite to open the scoring and shorter at 100/30 to score two or more.
Reds fans raise £60k
A collection by fans, aided by the Liverpool FC Foundation, has raised almost £60,000 for injured Reds supporter Sean Cox.
Cox was attacked by Roma supporters ahead of last April's Champions League semi-final at Anfield, leaving him with severe head injuries, and he continues his recovery in hospital in Ireland.
A bucket collection was made at last weekend's home Premier League match against Cardiff and that brought in £28,725 - an amount which was then matched by the LFC Foundation.
The Foundation also donated proceeds of £1,653 from the matchday fundraising lottery held at the game, taking the overall total to £59,104.
"LFC would again like to thank everyone who participated in the collection, either as collectors or donors, while club officials remain in dialogue with the Cox family regarding initiatives to support them," said a statement from Liverpool.
The Cox family expressed their appreciation in a statement to fans' group Spirit of Shankly, who helped provide volunteers for the collection.
"On behalf of the Cox family I wish to express my deepest thanks to Spirit of Shankly and everyone involved in the fundraising today and over the last months, from the people of Liverpool, home and around the world for their amazing kindness and generosity which has been overwhelming and has given us great hope and support for Sean's continued recovery. YNWA," said Sean's brother Martin.
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Odds correct as of 1600 GMT on 31/10/18
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