Over the past decade, Chelsea has garnered a reputation for producing top young talents whilst also failing to hand them ample opportunities to break into the first team.
The Blues have signed players only to enlist them into their loan army such as the likes of Marko Marin, Lucas Piazon, Kenedy and Liverpool’s latest signing, Mohamed Salah.
Jurgen Klopp is keen on bolstering his squad ahead of what is sure to be a tough season with Liverpool set to challenge on four fronts.
He’s turned to ex-Chelsea man and Egypt international, Salah, to help his side’s cause next term. Quite a number of Chelsea fans have expressed their disappointment at Salah’s move to Anfield given the 25-year-old proved to be one of the best players in the Serie A during his short stint there.
The possibility of Salah directly influencing anything remotely close to Chelsea’s downfall next season exists because of his tremendous ability on the ball, and his tactical awareness off it.
The Egypt international is a flair player. He’s capable of frustrating the opposition with his trickery, amongst other things.
Salah arrived at Chelsea off the back of a stellar spell at Swiss outfit FC Basel which saw him dubbed the Egyptian Messi.
Like most players likened to Messi in their youth, Salah subsequently fell off the radar as he found first-team opportunities at Stamford Bridge to be few and far between.
After two years marred by limited playing time, Chelsea shipped the Egyptian winger out on loan to Fiorentina where he had a decent season scoring six goals and making three assists in just 10 Serie A starts.
His impressive showings at La Viola earned him a loan move to AS Roma in the following season where he quickly became a mainstay in their lineup thanks to his mesmerising technical abilities as well as his eye for goal.
His first season in Rome saw him bag 14 league goals, thus highlighting his importance to Roma’s attempt at toppling Juventus.
Salah was expected to return to Chelsea for the 2016/17 season, but Roma opted to acquire his services alongside Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko on a permanent basis given they both had great debut seasons at the Stadio Olimpico.
Dzeko and Salah formed a deadly partnership which kept Roma in touch with Juventus for most of the 2016/17 season.
As we all know, the Bianconeri unsurprisingly won the Scudetto, but Roma still put up a good fight and finished second thanks to the efforts of Dzeko and Salah.
Salah’s involvement in Roma’s near title win served as a testament to how much he’s matured as a player since leaving Chelsea.
The Blues have obviously not felt the effects of letting Salah go seeing as he was shipped off to another league. Now that he’s back in the Premier League, and is being viewed as a big-name player, he will undoubtedly make Chelsea rue the day they sold him if he replicates his Serie A performances at Liverpool.
Expect an interesting encounter when Chelsea and Liverpool face off next season as Salah will certainly be granted an opportunity to make his former side feel his presence on the pitch.
