For the last year and a half, Mohamed Salah has made a habit of baffling opposition defenses every time he dons the Liverpool jersey.
This week, though, the Egyptian forward has the world befuddled – in particular his sea of online followers – after going ‘offline’.
The Liverpool star and reigning PFA Player of the Year appears to have deleted all his social media accounts – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – in a move which has left fans asking why.
Salah’s last post, a tweet sent out on Tuesday, 22 January, may have contained the answer.
Fans navigating to his Twitter account on Wednesday, 23 January, could only see a message reading, “Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!”.
On Instagram, the message read, “The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.”
A similar message appeared on Facebook.
It was not immediately clear whether the shutdowns were deliberate, but numerous fan theories are abound on the internet behind Salah’s sudden online disappearance.
One, which appears to be coming from a place of knowledge, was shared by journalist Mootaz Chehade on Wednesday.
“Mohamed Salah deactivating all his social media accounts after his last tweet is understood to be part of a campaign to raise awareness to the importance of real life communication away from social media. What a way to get his point across.”
Egyptian FA? ‘Diving’ Trolls? Why Did Salah Go?
Among the more commonplace theories among netizens is that Salah was angered by his ongoing dispute with the Egyptian FA over his image rights, although several users also seemed to guess his decision was centered around the excessive trolling he’s faced in recent weeks over allegations of being a ‘diver’.
Reds Fans Go Into Overdrive
Liverpool fans – who exist in gigantic numbers online – didn’t take long in going about their own potential explanations around Salah’s ‘offline’ act.
While some attributed the decision to their talismanic goal-scorer wanting to focus his energy on the team’s bid for a first league title in three decades, the more cynical Reds supporters feared the mention of the word ‘real’ in Salah’s last tweet was a reference to Real Madrid, and a potential move away from Anfield.
Salah has already established himself as a massive fan favourite among the Reds’ faithful, taking the Premier League by storm scoring 50 goals in just 72 appearances since signing before the 2017/18 season.
Liverpool presently top the league standings, four points ahead of defending champions Manchester City.
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