Jose Mourinho says he had no role in Salah’s sale at Chelsea
Mo Salah’s development into one of the most prolific goalscorers in the Premier League has been a bit embarrassing for Jose Mourinho, with the Portuguese being at the helm of affairs at Stamford Bridge when the Egyptian was sold.
Salah, though, is not the only one who has developed into one of the household names in European football. Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku were amongst the others who never got a fair crack of the whip at Chelsea and they now star for the club’s Premier League rivals.
It was Mourinho who played a big role behind Salah’s move to English football but the Special One has come under criticism for failing to value the Egyptian’s potential.
Mourinho bought Salah from Basel in January 2014 but the Egyptian went on to make only 19 appearances for the blues over the course of one and a half seasons, spending time on loan at Fiorentina and Roma, joining the latter in a permanent deal in 2016.
However, Mourinho has distanced himself from such criticism, making it clear that he had no role in Salah’s sale and that it was the club that decided to sell him.
“When the club decided to sell him, it was not me. I bought him, I didn’t sell him, and my relationship with him was good, is good,” the Portuguese told BeIN Sports.
“I think that he doesn’t regret that move because everything went well,” Mourinho added.
“Everything went well for him and the progression went well for him but, at that moment, he was just a kid with a huge desire to play every week, every minute and we couldn’t give him it.”
“Lots of things have been told that are not true. People try to identify me with the coach that sold Salah; I am the coach that bought Salah.
“It’s completely the wrong idea.
“I played against Basel in the Champions League. Salah was a kid in Basel. When I play against a certain team, I analyse the team and the players for quite a long time and I fell in love with that kid. I bought the kid.
“I pushed the club to buy him and, at the time, we already had fantastic attacking players – [Eden] Hazard, Willian – we had top talent there. But I told [Chelsea] to buy that kid.”
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