UK Edition
Jurgen Klopp dismisses Mohamed Salah's Chelsea woes - 'a lot of players have struggled there'
Jurgen Klopp has dismissed Mohamed Salah’s last disappointing spell in England as an irrelevance, arguing a number of top class players have struggled at Chelsea.
Liverpool manager Klopp referenced Kevin De Bruyne as another example of a talented youngster who - like Salah - has thrived after failing to impress at Stamford Bridge earlier in his career.
Salah moved to Liverpool from Roma this summer for an initial £36 million, and almost made the move to Anfield three years earlier from Basel during Brendan Rodgers’ reign. Klopp revealed he too wanted to take the Egyptian winger to Borussia Dortmund at that time.
Instead, the personal intervention of Jose Mourinho – allied to Chelsea making a higher offer with the funds from Juan Mata’s sale to Manchester United– scuppered Liverpool’s plans.
Then Salah endured a troubled spell under former Chelsea coach Mourinho.
“A lot of players have shown it is quite easy to struggle at Chelsea. (Kevin) De Bruyne is one,” said Klopp.
“The only thing that we really ignored was what he did at Chelsea. When he was at Basel we (Dortmund) played them and we didn’t know him. It was ‘what the f**k?’. It was unbelievable. The moment I said ‘let’s go for him’ he was already at Chelsea.
“Then he struggled at Chelsea because it was too early. Then he went to Fiorentina and then Roma. “The question is ‘what did you not see in him?’ because he played all inclusive football. He was quick, he played a lot of games, he created goals and chances and he scored by himself.”
Salah, who scored on his debut at Wigan on Friday, will add balance to the Liverpool side. With Sadio Mane there will be few more rapid forward lines in the Premier League this season.
“He was involved in pretty much everything for Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations,” said Klopp.
“He had the free-kick also. He is a left footed player and we don’t have too many of them in the team. It all makes him really valuable for us. I’m happy for the moment but he needs to learn a lot. We have to start working on the physical part and the technical part.”
Liverpool are now in Hong Kong to compete in the Asia Trophy. Talks are ongoing to secure Andrew Robertson from Hull, although no developments are anticipated in time for the Scottish international to join his team mates this week.