One of the biggest mysteries for many Chelsea fans is why Premier League legend Mohamed Salah failed to hit the ground running at Stamford Bridge.
Before Salah went on to become one of the best wingers England has ever seen at Liverpool, the first Premier League side he joined was Chelsea in 2014.
He featured sporadically for the Blues, and scored in Jose Mourinho’s humiliation of Arsene Wenger in the former Arsenal manager’s 1000th game in charge.
Gary Lineker believes selling Salah is one of Chelsea’s biggest regrets, and there are always questions asked of the players at the time why things didn’t work out.
Mohamed Salah playing for Chelsea
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John Terry believes Mohamed Salah didn’t deliver in training at Chelsea
John Terry was captain of the club when Salah, as well as Kevin de Bruyne and others were looking to break into what was an established squad of proven Premier League greats.
Terry has stated that these players perhaps did not reach the level required in training, and were not ready for the demands at Chelsea at that time.
He said: “Kevin de Bruyne came in, Mo Salah came in, have gone on to be absolute world beaters in the game, like incredible players. They come in at a time where they wasn’t ready for the group.
“Now, they showed little bits of quality, but I have to say the level that we had at training was as hard as I’ve ever known training in our time. You know, people coming in that are really good, experienced players, just not understanding the level and falling by the wayside very quickly. It was very demanding.“
John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba of Chelsea during the FA Cup Final with Budweiser between Liverpool and Chelsea
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Salah sale has come back to bite Chelsea
Salah had already found the net three times against Chelsea for Basel before he had even joined the club, however his record didn’t slow up as time went on.
In the Premier League, the Egyptian has five goals and four assists against the Blues, including a stunning strike in a 2-0 win at Anfield in 2019.
The Blues are clearly regretting letting him originally leave for Italy, and his long-term presence at the club would have perhaps helped answer one of the more polarising Premier League discussion points.
Eden Hazard and Salah are regularly compared, and while Chelsea fans will back the Belgian’s corner, it may have been harder to decide if they had both done their best work at Stamford Bridge.