The prediction Jose Mourinho made about Mohamed Salah when he signed for Chelsea which he got very wrong

01/02/2025 12:45 PM

Few people would have expected Mohamed Salah to become a Premier League legend during his Chelsea days.

The Egyptian, now a Liverpool icon, only scored two goals in 13 Premier League appearances for the Blues – struggling to impress at Stamford Bridge before he was loaned to Fiorentina.

Another loan to Roma then followed – before he was sold by Chelsea to the Italian giants in 2016 – but prior to that move materialising, Jose Mourinho made a prediction about Mohamed Salah which was wildly inaccurate.

What Jose Mourinho said about Mohamed Salah

Speaking in February 2014, the Portuguese coach was quoted by the Express as saying: “He was not in the game (against Manchester City). He has that (pace) but he was not in the game. It’s important for him to come step by step and try to improve and adapt. This is a different world, a different quality of football to the one he comes from.

“You know, playing at Stamford Bridge is not the same as playing for Basel. With Basel you play to enjoy your time and you have nothing to lose. While in the blue shirt, you have 40,000 people that you are required to please. Everyone wants you to be decisive, all the time.

“So, I think Mohamed needs six months to adapt to our game and the demands of the Premier League. I am calm and I’m telling him he has time because we have confidence in him. I think next season is Mohamed Salah’s breakthrough season.”

The 2014/15 campaign did not prove to be a “breakthrough season” for the Egypt international at Chelsea by any means.

Salah failed to score in eight appearances for the Blues that term before he was loaned to Fiorentina in January 2015, and he would never play again for Chelsea as a move to Roma then followed.

It was not until the 2017/18 campaign – far later than Mourinho’s prediction of six months – when Liverpool brought him back to the Premier League that he truly took English football by storm, scoring 44 goals in 52 games that season to prove he had well and truly cracked the sport on these shores.

How much Chelsea sold Mohamed Salah for before Liverpool swooped in

This might make Chelsea fans feel a bit ill.

Roma signed Salah, who Anthony Gordon admires, for just £15m in August 2016 – with the Italian giants then more than doubling that fee when selling the forward to Liverpool in a £34m deal back in June 2017.

The man born in Nagrig now boasts 231 goals and 105 assists in 375 appearances for Liverpool – cementing himself as a bonafide legend at Anfield.