Mourinho not surprised by Salah's rise

by Staff Reporter

Tuesday Mar 05, 2019. 12:00

Former Chelsea head coach Jose Mourinho has not been surprised by Mohamed Salah's rise over the past two seasons.

Having struggled in his first stint in English Premier League football, the Egypt international found his groove in the Serie A for Fiorentina and later AS Roma before returning to England with Liverpool two years ago.

The 26-year-old has flourished under Jurgen Klopp's tutelage at Anfield and after scoring 44 goals in his first season at the club, Salah has continued to break records for the Reds in the current campaign.

Salah, though, endured a frustrating spell at Chelsea, but despite having failed to rise to prominence at Stamford Bridge in Mourinho's time at the club, the Portuguese mentor has not been surprised by Salah's progress to becoming one of the best footballers on the planet.

“So please don’t say his current performances are a surprise to me, I brought him to Chelsea," Mourinho told beIN SPORTS.

“The only problem is that he was desperate to play all the time and at the time above him were more experienced players like Hazard and Willian.

“And I would make him play the second-half against Tottenham, against Manchester City, you could tell he’s not really ready.

“He just wanted to play, he would always tell me ‘I want to play!’. I told him go on loan to Fiorentina and it will give you room to improve. Now we see his career and I’m very happy for Salah,” he conculded.