Rising to the top in any profession, it’s easy to forget your roots.

Football especially is a hotbed for the conceited and egotistical, despite regular rags to riches journeys. But every now and then a story emerges which brings about admiration.

Take for example, Liverpool star Mohamed Salah.

The 25-year-old has developed into the darling of Egypt after he guided his nation to their first World Cup since 1990. But it’s not just on a national scale he is celebrated.

Indeed, in his childhood home of Nagrig, a small village in Basioun located in the Gharbiya province where Salah grew up, the Reds flier is a hero for more than just his exploits on the pitch.

Through the voices of friends and family of the generous star, an in-depth piece featured on China’s Xinhua News Agency reveals the lengths of Salah’s charitable work for his homeland.

“Salah highlighted his small village on the international map. He also built a charity and will build a school that costs millions,” said mayor of Nagrig, Maher Shetia.

“This is in addition to his donations to Basioun hospital with a complete ventilation room, incubations and an ambulance unit.”

It’s not the first goodwill gesture from Salah.

A story emerged after his two-goal display against Congo that a wealthy businessman offered him a luxury villa only for the player to ask instead if he would make a donation to his home village.

And it is this magnanimity and well-mannered personality which is frequently highlighted by those who know him best.

“Mohamed outside of football is a very respectable person,” Aston Villa winger Ahmed Elmohamady told Sport360 recently.

“He is close to God and is a very generous man, who does a lot of philanthropic work. And God is rewarding him for all the good he does in the world. He’s also a hard-worker.

“I’ve known him for a very long time, since he was at Arab Contractors club when he was young, and we both hail from the same town.

“So I’ve known him since he was a kid, playing football in our hometown. He’s a great person and he’s very popular among the players, who have helped him a lot on the pitch as well.”

The appetite for football which Elmohamady describes is a recurring theme which sits among those spoken to in Xinhua News Agency‘s feature on him and it’s evident the former Chelsea forward possesses a rare blend of kindness and skill.

“Salah comes to the village when possible and walks among the people and takes photos with them so modestly. All Egyptians, not only those of Nagrig or Gharbiya province, are proud of him,” said his cousin Abadah Saeed Ghali who explained he was always a “soccer addict”.

In Salah’s honour and after Egypt’s 2018 World Cup qualification, the governor of Gharbiya renamed Salah’s former industrial high school in Basioun “Mohamed Salah Industrial High School.”

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There is a youth centre in Nagrig which will also be renamed after Salah soon and there can be no better role model for the kids of Egypt to follow.

“Salah has a strong will and his mind is faster than his feet,” said his uncle.

His career has moved fast as well but Salah has never forgotten his fellow countryman and for that he is a real credit to the sport.