German side Hamburg held talks to sign Mohamed Salah before he became a “world class” forward at Premier League giants Liverpool, the club’s former sporting director Oliver Kreuzer has told Sport1.
Every football team on the planet has their own ‘one-that-got-away’.
Remember when Michael Essien almost signed for Burnley? When Arsenal infuriated a gangly, baby-faced Zlatan Ibrahimovic so much he snubbed Arsene Wenger to his face?
And, all the way back in 2012, Tottenham Hotspur missed out on the chance to sign a 21-year-old winger. His name? Eden Hazard.
According to Harry Redknapp, chairman Daniel Levy refused to stump up the £16 million fee for a player who would join Real Madrid for an initial £88 million seven years later.
We’d imagine Kreuzer knows how Redknapp feels.
Because he, too, was denied the chance to bring in a forward who would go on to define an era in the Premier League, an undeniably world class talent capable of winning games on his lonesome.
Hamburg could have saved their fall from grace by signing Mo Salah
“There were talks with (Salah’s) agent at the time about a possible transfer,” says Kreuzer, who worked at Basel before Hamburg and is now working as managing director of sport at Karlsruher SC.
“Mo Salah came from Egypt to FC Basel in 2012 to a club with which I share a common past and with which I still maintain excellent contacts today.
“At that time, a transfer was not realistic – on the one hand because the financial situation at HSV (Hamburg) did not allow it, on the other hand because there were financially strong competitors.
“In any case, you can say we had a good eye for a player who embodies world class today.”
Arguably the finest footballer on Earth today – although we’d imagine Ballon D’Or front-runner Robert Lewandowski would have something to say about that – Salah has produced 15 goals in just 13 games for a Liverpool side in touching distance of Chelsea at the top of the Premier League.
And what of Hamburg? Sitting seventh in the second tier of German football, how differently things could have worked out had Salah put pen to paper at the Volksparkstadion all those years ago?
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
