Jose Mourinho insists he wasn’t responsible for Chelsea allowing Mohamed Salah to leave Stamford Bridge in 2016.
The former Blues coach says he is not surprised by Liverpool forward Salah’s exploits in the current campaign and said the decision to sell the Egyptian to Roma in 2016 was made by his former club, not him.
Salah joined Chelsea under Mourinho in 2014 but failed to establish himself in the first team. After two loan spells in Italian football, he was sold to Roma in 2016.
The 25-year-old returned to England with Liverpool this season and has excelled, scoring 31 goals in 33 matches, winning the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year award and sending the Reds to within touching distance of a Champions League final following a brace against former club Roma in 5-2 semi-final first leg win on Merseyside this week.
“People say that I was the one that sold Salah and it is the opposite,” said Manchester United boss Mourinho.
“I was the one that bought Salah. I was the one that told Chelsea to buy Salah… But he came as a young kid, physically he was not ready, mentally he was not ready, socially and culturally he was lost and everything was tough for him.
“Chelsea decided to sell him, OK? … So the decision to send him on loan was a decision we made collectively, but after that, the decision to sell him and to use that money to buy another player wasn’t mine.”
United are 1.44 to beat Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday. The Gunners are 7.50 while the draw is 4.50.
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