Mohamed Salah has been one of the Premier League's top players since joining Liverpool in the summer of 2017. The Egyptian had a record-breaking first season at Anfield, netting more goals in that campaign than anyone else before him. The fact he took England's top flight by storm after arriving from Roma was certainly a surprise to some, considering his first Premier League spell was rather forgettable. Before linking up with Jurgen Klopp's side, Salah was a Chelsea player for one and a half seasons - he moved to London from Basel in January 2014. However, he failed to make an impression at Stamford Bridge and within a year of arriving, the forward was loaned to Fiorentina. 

When that deal expired he was loaned to Roma straight after and the rest is history, as he joined the Serie A side permanently in 2016. 

Very few would have predicted his rise to the top after he was dumped by Chelsea, but that hasn't stopped many fans putting the blame on Jose Mourinho for the decision. 

He was in charge of the Blues when they decided to loan Salah before he was eventually offloaded - which is a move that in hindsight, looks so wrong.

Since stepping back from management, The Special One has been very open about a number of decisions he made while on the sidelines and this weekend, discussed why he gave such little playing time to Salah. 

The Portuguese coach explained how 'fragile' the player was when he arrived in London and what changed during his time in Italy that turned him into a world-class forward.

"He arrived at Chelsea, coming from Basel, as a lonely boy, a naive boy, completely out of context and physically fragile," Mourinho revealed during an appearance on beIN Sports.

"Then he goes to Italy. He has the experience at Fiorentina, he has the experience at Roma and when he comes back to England he comes completely adapted to the high level of European football.

"He has a higher understanding of the game, he is physically much stronger. You can see his body and his fitness is much stronger and much more confident." 

So, Mourinho has appeared to justify his decision to dump Salah by suggesting he wasn't ready for the highest level of competition when he arrived in England.   

Still, Chelsea fans will still be upset that he was sold so quickly after that - even though it wasn't all Jose's fault.