Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has been a hit for Liverpool for the past three seasons at Anfield. He moved to the Merseyside club from Italian giant AS Roma having failed to live up to the billing at English Premier League side Chelsea.
Salah may have proven to be an undoubtable talent from the African continent but his ability failed to find an expression at Stamford Bridge.
This was during Jose Mourinho’s regime at the club as the Portuguese tactician signed him following his mouth-watering display against Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
espite his rising profile, he left Chelsea leaving the fans to ponder what the future holds for the young Egyptian forward likened to Lionel Messi in his country.
With his departure at Stamford Bridge, we evaluate the three reason why Mohamed Salah failed to shine at London club Chelsea.
HAZARD OVER SHADOWED SALAH
While Chelsea was bringing in the young Salah as promising as ever following his marvelous exploits against Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League, Hazard was already blazing with decent performance on the Chelsea shirt.
The former may have got quality but the superior form and rhythm Hazard was at that moment, was unbelievable to behold. He was unplayable for the opposing defence thus overshadowing most of his Chelsea teammate on the pitch.
This limited Salah’s ovation and the chance to get the much rare view and focus at the club as he was neglected with Hazard’s performance casting a shadow on Mohamed Salah’s talent on a weekly basis at Chelsea.
LACK OF GAME TIME
The young Egyptian talent may have scored against Chelsea as Basel beat the London side 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.
However, putting on a Chelsea shirt proved tougher than he expected as his performance (against the Blues) which led to his move to Chelsea was never the guarantee/criteria for first-team football. This was even under much probability as the chances were meant to be provided by Jose Mourinho.
The Portuguese manager is said not to be a fan of young players as this limited Salah’s progress and chances to thrive among the Chelsea set-up at that time.
BRAZILIAN EMERGENCE AT CHELSEA
Mohamed Salah would not have come at a bad time when Chelsea have got the Brazilian duo of Oscar and Willian Borges in their ranks though the Blues were still trying to find their rhythm as at that time.
While the former (Oscar) has already established himself alongside (Eden) Hazard and (Juan) Mata with all of them (including Oscar) featuring behind the main striker.
Willian was also pretty much in Mourinho’s plans (mind).
Brazilian’s (Willian’s) versatility and strength in tracking back for defensive duties may have given him a place ahead of the more clinical finisher Mohamed Salah.
Salah was made to pay the price of his youthfulness as Mourinho couldn’t generate much trust on him owing to the pressure at Chelsea as at then.
