Mohamed Salah moved to Liverpool from Roma in June 2017 for an initial £36.9m and has since become the club’s leading scorer in the Premier League era
Mohamed Salah joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017(Image: Getty Images)
Former Roma sporting director Monchi admits he was powerless to stop Mohamed Salah leaving for Liverpool following his arrival in the summer of 2017. But the Spanish talent-spotter has claimed he was able to hike the price that the Premier League champions paid to sign Egypt captain Salah nearly eight years ago.
Monchi was hired in Rome by the Giallorossi’s owner James Pallotta and his arrival at Stadio Olimpico was widely acclaimed at the time, given the reputation he forged while at Sevilla.
However, by the time Monchi joined the club, Salah already had his heart set on a move to Anfield, where he has since gone to become one of the greatest players of the Premier League era.
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Monchi has now opened up on how the negotiation process worked with Liverpool, insisting he got the best price possible for Salah, who joined the Reds in June 2017 for what was a club-record fee of £36.9m.
“It was a magnificent year [in 2018]” Monchi told Flashscore.
“I insist, after having to sell Salah, [Antonio] Rudiger, and [Leandro] Paredes, that is to say, having to make very important sales, to finish third and semi-finalist in the Champions League, I think it was a magnificent success.
“[Selling Salah] was necessary. When I arrived there, Salah was practically sold for 33million euros plus a three million bonus. In the end, he was sold for 55, but there was already a commitment with the player.
“He wanted to leave and the only thing we could do was try to improve the price.
“You have to understand that moment, the sale of Salah was before [Ousmane] Dembele (went to Barcelona for over £100m), before the whole explosion of the football market with crazy sales.
“And, well, I insist, I practically had an agreement between Roma and Liverpool. What we did was to push to get as much as possible, because the player already knew he wanted to leave.”
Salah is currently third in the list of all-time scorers at Liverpool with 248 goals in 411 games.
He and the Reds will look to return to winning ways on Sunday when Manchester United visit Anfield.
The Egyptian has scored 11 goals in his last 13 Premier League appearances against United.
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