Jordan Henderson has revealed Mohamed Salah was keen to have Liverpool represented as a team when he collected the PFA Players' Player of the Year award last weekend.
The winger became the first Red since Luis Suarez to collect the award on Sunday after being voted for by his fellow professionals from all four divisions in England.
Liverpool skipper Henderson partnered Salah to the event – and the midfielder highlighted a special gesture from the Egyptian in his notes included in the pre-Stoke match programme.
He writes: “There is probably no player on the planet at the moment more written and spoken about than Mo Salah. He's the person everyone in the game, be it supporter, media or even players, are talking about – and for all the right reasons.
“Last Sunday I accompanied him to London for the PFA Awards where he was crowned player of the season, voted for by his fellow professionals. For those of you who don't know about the mechanisms of this, it's the Professional Footballers Union and every professional footballer, from all four divisions, gets to vote on who they think is the best player playing in England at this time.
“One of the rules is that you can't vote for anyone at your own club, which means none of us at Liverpool could vote for Mo. For the record, I voted for Kevin De Bruyne, as I believe many of our team did. The fact he came second – after the season he has had – tells you everything about the level that Mo is performing at.
“But Mo isn't just world-class on the pitch – he is world-class off it – and we as his teammates appreciate him for more than just his goals. The way he behaved around collecting the PFA award sums him up; even in a moment of personal triumph he wanted to acknowledge the importance of the team. Mo is individually magic, but his mindset is all about the collective.
“The gaffer was keen for him to go to London and collect the prize, even though it was in quite close proximity to the Roma first leg. The manager's priority was that Mo ate the right things, got his sleep and training wasn't impacted at all. All those things fell into line, so as a team and as a club we wanted him to go.
“But typically he didn't want to go on his own, purely because he believes this individual award has come because of the performance of the entire team. Mo recognises that everyone in this squad has played a part in helping him reach this level – and it's that humility that makes him such a special person, as well as a phenomenal player. He wanted the entire team's contribution recognised, and as a result we decided together that I would go with him to represent the rest of the team.
Mohamed Salah scores for Liverpool against Rome in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at Anfield / Image: Getty Images
“When Mo says, for him, it's all about what the team can achieve and not him personally, it isn't just words. When he says he would swap every individual honour he might get for one trophy for the club, he means it. That's Mo – that's why he's special to us. That is why we, as his teammates, were so unbelievably chuffed that the rest of football in England saw fit to name him the best player performing in our country in this moment.
“We didn't vote for him because we couldn't under the rules – but the Liverpool dressing room doesn't need a ballot paper to show our appreciation for this amazing fella.”