Cohen beats Salah by 40 years as first Egyptian for LFC

CAIRO – 6 June 2017: Liverpool Football Club (LFC) is in negotiations with Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah to join the club during the summer transfer window from A.S. Roma.

However, he is not the first Egyptian to play for Liverpool. Abraham “Avi” Cohen became the first Egyptian-born footballer for LFC in 1979, and was the only the second foreigner to represent the team after South African Robert Rudham 24 years prior, according to the official Liverpool website.

Cohen played several seasons for Maccabi Tel Aviv before Liverpool coach Bop Paisly put his eyes on the Egyptian-Israeli defender. Cohen spent a week training with the club before being given a chance to play against Leeds on September 15, 1979. He appeared for LFC in 24 matches over two years, scoring one goal, before being sold back to Israel.

Former Chelsea forward Mohamed Salah joined A.S. Roma for £13m last summer, scoring 19 goals in 39 appearances, which made LFC coach Jurgen Klopp target Salah for the summer transfer window.