Mohamed Salah continued his excellent start to the Arne Slot era at Liverpool by tormenting Manchester United once again at Old Trafford.
He starred in the Reds’ 3-0 battering of the Red Devils on Sunday (September 1), taking his tally to three goals and three assists in his first three matches of the 2024/25 Premier League season.
Salah just loves playing against Manchester United and has now scored 10 goals against them at Old Trafford.
This is actually what the Red Devils’ own players like Alejandro Garnacho, Antony and Rasmus Hojlund have managed in their careers. The Egyptian winger keeps ageing like fine wine and is clearly having a lot of fun despite questions around his long-term future at Anfield.
After the win over Manchester United, Salah was gracious enough to join up with the Sky Sports pundit crew at the Theatre of Dreams.
Here he got to interact with ex-Liverpool forward Daniel Sturridge, enjoying a frank and genuine conversation with him. But something that got fans really talking about the Salah-Sturridge conversation is what the Englishman referred him as.
During the beginning of the post-match talk, Sturridge appeared to refer to Salah as ‘Akh’ rather than ‘Mo’ – which is the nickname he’s usually called by.
The Egyptian winger had no issues with it, but this took some Liverpool fans by surprise because it’s something that not many pundits actually refer to the winger as.
Fans have voiced their love for Sturridge showing his friendly side by using that term with Salah in an effort to make the interview seem more cordial.
A few supporters are also actually quite annoyed with Sturridge’s comments, slamming him for trying to ‘act cool’ or someone younger than what he really is.
Well, there is a special meaning to the word ‘Akh’ for Egyptian people.
That is because Akh or Akhi is actually an ancient Egyptian belief and concept that refers to the spirit of a deceased person. Akh is considered as a key part of the soul alongside ‘Ka’ (life force) and the ‘Ba’ (personality) as well.
The Akh is a spirit that is considered to be ‘gloriously transfigured spirit’ that reflects of the deeds of the person in its lifetime. The Akh is believed to allow the soul to take any form it wants to revisit earth or enjoy itself.
With that being said, ‘Akh’ has a different meaning in the Urban dictionary too.
Indeed, the word as per the wacky dictionary is an Arabic term for Brother. It can usually be heard among American Muslim population in places like Philadelphia, Atlanta or New York City. So Sturridge’s way of using this word (if he actually did pronounce it like that) was to greet Salah as a brother and try to create a friendly bond with him before the interview.
Irrespective, it seems that Sturridge’s ‘street talk’ has definitely divided fans and not come off as ‘cool’ as he’d intended it too. He might’ve continued towards an enlightening interview with Salah, but might be advised by Sky Sports against trying such innovations in future talks.