Confusion swept through Cairo International Airport after security at passport control found Uruguay forward Darwin Nunez wearing a curly wig holding Mo Salah’s passport, Paddy Power News understands.
Dressed in a full Liverpool kit with ‘11 Salah’ on the back, Liverpool forward Nunez is believed to have attempted to convince local police he was their national hero, Salah, on the way to meet up with the rest of the Egypt squad.
“We thought we were trippin’ balls watching this unfold. It was a Uruguayan man attempting to speak Arabic in a scouse accent,” said one onlooker.
“It was very confusing for everybody.”
Although nothing has been officially confirmed, a local journalist had this to say via Associated Press.
“The person in the wig mentioned the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Great Sphinx, and Tutankhamun – you know, the most common Egyptian topics taught in school – in a bid to convince everybody he was definitely Eqyptian.
“If it was Mo, he must’ve grown six inches on the flight from Liverpool to Cairo as he was incredibly tall on arrival.
With the person in question still detained, one idea believed to be under consideration is for security to grab a ball and ask the footballer to hit the passport control window from 25 yards away.
If he can do it, he will be accepted as Mo Salah and allowed through the gates. If it ends up on the luggage carousel, they’ll know it’s Darwin Nunez.
Meanwhile, Liverpool Football Club released this statement following the reports:
“Over the past six months we have been providing Darwin Nunez with lessons in Arabic, Hieroglyphics, Cleopatra, Egyptian tourism and all-inclusive holiday resorts. We accept this was wrong and expect Nunez to be returned to us promptly.
“As a club we believe we acted with the best intentions as it simply isn’t fair to lose our best player when Man City don’t have to lose any of theirs.
“What we would like to recommend to the Premier League is if we must be without Salah for a month, Erling Haaland should be forced to participate in the World Curling Championships for Team Norway for the next month too.
“Arsenal also shouldn’t be allowed to play Martin Odegaard, who can bog off to Legoland for a few weeks, and Ollie Watkins should be restricted to wandering the Bull Ring for a fortnight at least.
“We would consider including Man United in this request, but their entire squad is sh*te, so it really doesn’t matter who is missing for them.”
An update is expected in the coming days.
*Paddy Power’s football coverage is pure fantasy – don’t believe it for a second
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