Mohamed Salah playing for Chelsea – it feels like it happened in a different lifetime. But the Egypt international was officially a Chelsea player for two and a half years – even though then-boss Jose Mourinho only gave him a few months to show what he’s got before destroying him in front of his teammates.The fresh-faced Pharaoh arrived to Stamford Bridge from Swiss club Basel in Early 2014 and had a decent start, scoring two goals in his first five appearances. However, he couldn’t keep it up and was sent out on loans in Italy with Fiorentina and Roma – but not before Mourinho ripped him up and effectively ended his Chelsea career in front of his teammates – including a Super Eagle.”He ripped into him at half time and then took him off…”Mikel Obi recalls when Jose Mourinho made Mo’ Salah cry. pic.twitter.com/w7JulDz8MM— 🐬 @𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗷𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗯𝗼𝘆 (@OneJoblessBoy) February 16, 2023 Speaking for a radio station in Dubai, legendary Nigerian midfielder Mikel John Obi remembered the day the Special One made Salah cry before subbing him off at halftime of a Chelsea match.”Salah was in tears, and what happened is Mourinho didn’t let him back onto the pitch in the second half. He took him off. It would have been easy to just take him off and say ‘you’re not playing well, off you go, sit down, you’re not going back onto the pitch.’ But he ripped into him before taking him off.”Of course, few people in that Chelsea dressing room could have imagined the level Salah would reach later in his career, especially after joining Liverpool. In his debut campaign at Anfield, he took the Premier League by storm, setting a top-flight record for the most goals in a 38-game season with an astonishing 32.##NAJAVA_MECA_7031446##Since he shed those tears because of Mourinho, Salah has gone on to become one of the best players in world football at Liverpool, scoring 174 goals in 286 games for the Reds while winning the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup.The Egyptian is not the only world-class talent Chelsea have let slip through their fingers in recent years. Kevin de Bruyne was also offloaded by Mourinho the same month Salah joined. But Mikel says KDB would always argue when he was younger. “Kevin was always a stroppy guy, he was always on his own, he was always moody, he was always grumpy. You could never get anything out of him. But now when I watch him play… what a joy. What a joy to watch.”How times have changed.
