(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Frank Lampard has explained why Mohamed Salah struggled when he was Chelsea player under Jose Mourinho three years ago.
The Egyptian winger moved from Basel to Chelsea in January 2014 after impressing against the Blues in two Champions League ties, scoring twice, however he only managed to feature in 13 Premier League matches before joining Fiorentina and Roma.
Salah has been in incredible form since joining Liverpool in a big money summer move in July, scoring 12 goals in 17 matches in all competitions including a brace in the last Premier League fixture against West Ham.
Chelsea icon Frank Lampard, who spent half a season with Salah in 2014, commented on the Egyptian’s development saying: “It was a huge move at that stage of his career, maybe it was a bit early for a club like Chelsea.”
“It wasn’t easy and he was up against the likes of Hazard, Oscar and Mata were around there in his early days. So it was tough for him to come in then and he probably wasn’t quite ready for it,” Lampard told BT Sport.
“The good thing for him is he’s gone away and come on leaps and bounds. He’s got confidence and personality now that he maybe didn’t have when he was young.”
“But he always had the speed and the touch. But he’s a completely different player to what he was at Chelsea and it is complete credit to him for that,” Lampard added.
Salah has now reached his 12th goal of the season which makes him Liverpool’s highest scoring player across all competitions this season.
