Liverpool’s summer signing Mohamed Salah could’ve been a hit at Stamford Bridge, hadn’t it been for Jose Mourinho to not give him the chances he needed, says Chelsea’s Eden Hazard.
The Reds signed Salah on a club record transfer from AS Roma last summer, and so far the money has been spent very well. The Egyptian has bagged 14 times in 19 appearances in all competitions this term, and he’s also the current top scorer in the Premier League with nine goals to his name.
He was already a success at Fiorentina and AS Roma before moving to Merseyside, but where did it all go wrong for Chelsea before that? The Blues signed him for £11m in January 2014 to replace Juan Mata, who had just departed to Manchester United for a new beginning to his career. Mourinho was said to have big plans for the young winger, but handed him just 19 outings in all competitions.
In an interview ahead of Chelsea’s vital Premier League visit to Anfield this Saturday, Eden Hazard has opened up about the two forward’s time together at the club.
The Belgian thinks that the biggest issue for Salah’s unsuccessful Chelsea career was down to Mourinho not giving him the chance he might have deserved, as the likes of Willian and Oscar were often picked ahead of him.
“He is still my friend and we are still in contact. He’s a top, top, top player. He did not get his chance at Chelsea — maybe because of the manager, because of the other players? I don’t know.
He has quality but in that period I remember we had me, Willian, Oscar, so for him it was not easy. But he’s a top player, for sure, and we know as a team the quality he has. He is a fantastic striker and this season he has scored a lot of goals.
In training he would do everything. Even in the games when he was playing, sometimes he would score goals, so we knew the quality he had. I am just happy for him.
When you are not playing at a club you need to go. You need a chance and he took his chance at Fiorentina, so he did everything that you have to do when you are not playing. If I was not playing, I’d want to go. That’s normal because of all the players want to play.
I watched him when he played for Roma — one of my friends from the national team, Radja Nainggolan, is also there — and he did very well.
Now he is still at the top. And then even with his country he did well to reach the World Cup. At Liverpool he is still doing well, so I think we need to be careful with him. I want to ask him for his shirt, for sure, on Saturday.”
– Eden Hazard, ESPN
Following his success at Liverpool this term, Salah will undeniably go down as one of the biggest mistakes Jose Mourinho did during his time at Chelsea, as the player falls down into the same category as former Blues Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne, who have now become one of their clubs’ best players. Just what could’ve been if they all had got their chances at Chelsea?
