And Fiorentina fans fell so much in love with his goalscoring exploits they carved a heart into his apartment door.

But Mohamed Salah, born in 1992 in the Egyptian city of Basyoun, 60 miles from Cairo, is seen generally as the player who flopped at Chelsea.

Tomorrow at Anfield, he has a chance to show them what a dreadful mistake they made by selling him to Roma.

Because, make no mistake, he is fast becoming the new Toxteth Terror at Liverpool, despite being pinpointed behind Christian Pulisic, Julian Draxler and Julian Brandt in a list of Jurgen Klopp’s top summer transfer targets.

The brace Salah scored in the 3-0 victory over Southampton on Saturday were his eighth and ninth Premier League goals from his first 12 appearances – a strike rate which smashed the record set by club hero Fowler 23 years ago. And it has propelled him to the top of the race for the Golden Boot.

His feats for Egypt are equally stunning. So much so that fans have dubbed Egypt the “pass-to-Salah team” after he almost single-handedly qualified them for next summer’s World Cup. He was involved in all seven of the goals that secured their qualification to Russia, scoring five and making two.

It makes the fact he failed so miserably at Chelsea all the more mysterious; in 13 appearances, Salah scored two goals after arriving for £11million from Basel in January 2014.

“The key thing with Salah first time round at Chelsea was that he was a year or two younger and still learning the game,” says Pat Nevin, who scored 36 league goals in 190 appearances for the club between 1983 and 1988.

“In front of him at Chelsea in his position were players like Eden Hazard, Willian, Oscar, Victor Moses and Andre Schurrle. These were world-class players and, to be honest, he was not playing at anywhere near that level at the time.

“The argument is, should Chelsea have hung on to Salah and given him more time? But you don’t know how long it is going to take with a player.

“There were other players – Kevin De Bruyne being the obvious example – who were in the same position. They were not going to get past the established stars.”

Within a year Salah was packed off on loan to Fiorentina and then to Roma where, in 2016, the move was made permanent.

In Italy, however, the goals flowed – nine in 26 games for Fiorentina and 34 in two years for Roma.

Fans fell in love with him. Even in Egyptian domestic football he is revered, which is perhaps strange considering he played for neither of the country’s marquee clubs – Al Ahly or Zamalek – instead signing for Arab Contractors at 18.

But he won the hearts of Al Ahly fans when choosing the shirt No74 upon signing for Fiorentina; a tribute to the number Al Ahly fans killed in Port Said after they were attacked by supporters of rivals Al Masry in 2012.

And Liverpool fans are falling for him in a similar way after Klopp decided to spend £36.6m to secure his services this summer. His team have now scored 46 goals in all competitions this season. And Salah has scored 14 of them – in only 19 games.

“The Salah decision, to let him go at the time, does not jump out to me as what you might regard as a huge mistake,” says Nevin. “There is a massive group of players who have been in the same position at Chelsea. Sometimes as a player you just do not fit into the pattern or the system of the team.

“With Salah, it was a case of right player, wrong time. But they knew he had something. He had pace and a great touch. Now, he is under another manager in Klopp who is absolutely ideal for him.

“He has Sadio Mane, Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino in and around him – and there are not many better attacking units than that. Now, the fit is right.”

Salah, who married his wife Magi in 2013 and has a daughter Makka – named after the first sight of revelation in the Quran – now looks settled in England.

Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann says: “Salah has been a breath of fresh air in an otherwise at times pretty mediocre team.

“But I don’t think Chelsea has ever been the easiest team to impress in if you are a forward. Salah is not the first player to not fit in at Chelsea and he won’t be the last.

“Look at a player like Fernando Torres. He scored loads of goals at Liverpool but he went to Chelsea and they played a totally different way and the goals dried up.”

The goals do not look like drying up for Salah. In fact, that £36m now seems like the bargain of the summer.