The Fall of Salah At Chelsea and Rise At Liverpool
The one on the left.
Chelsea had snapped him up for just £11 million from Basel in January 2014, as Jose Mourinho worked on making his second-stint with the Blues a success.
But before his move to Stamford Bridge, Salah had actually played against Chelsea in the group stage of that season’s Champions League and even scored in both games – including a surprise winner at Stamford Bridge.
When he arrived, Chelsea already had world class attacking midfielders and forwards like Oscar, Willian, Andre Schurrle and Eden Hazard.
Negotiations took a long time, because Basel rejected more than one offer. They felt the transfer fee was not that high. I was waiting for Liverpool because I really like Liverpool. I was eager to join them.
But then I received a phone call from Mourinho and that changed everything. He explained the situation to me and told me that he needed me at Chelsea. That was one of the main reasons why I joined Chelsea.
Mourinho told me that he thought I was a good player and that he wanted me to pick Chelsea.
So this should give you an idea of how much potential Jose Mourinho saw in Salah.
His first match for Chelsea was as a substitute in an away match vs Manchester City in early February 2014.
He made his proper debut 5 days later in a 3–0 win over Newcastle.
He scored his first goal for the Blues a month later in a 6–0 thrashing of Arsenal.
That was Arsene Wenger’s 1000th game in charge of Arsenal, no less.
He was named Man of the Match for scoring 1 and assisting 1 goal in a 3–0 win over Stoke City in early April 2014 …
… and was also in the starting line-up for Chelsea against Liverpool in that infamous 2–0 win.
You know, the one where Steven Gerrard let it slip?
Anyway, in the following season Chelsea signed Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa to help them storm to the title. But this meant less game time for Salah. In fact, he barely even made the squad for the majority of the campaign and was instead used in cup matches against lower-league opposition.
Even though he showed a lot of promise, the Blues and football pundits alike felt that he was not yet ready for Premier League football. He never quite got enough game time to prove himself at Chelsea. A story similar to Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku.
So they sent him on loan to Fiorentina, to make way for Juan Cuadrado.
He flourished at Fiorentina, then later moved to AS Roma.
Finally Liverpool managed to do what they could not do in 2014 - buy Salah.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
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