Micah Richards has been speaking to The Beautiful Game Podcast about Mohamed Salah, and he made one interesting revelation.
The Sky Sports pundit spent time with the 67-cap Egypt international at Fiorentina during the 2014/15 season, where Richards noticed huge potential in the forward.
When asked if he knew Salah would reach the top back then, the ex-Manchester City right-back said: ‘Straight away. He was better than everyone else in training, was doing stuff afterwards.
‘Don’t forget, he came from Basel to join Chelsea, and he was unbelievable there. You don’t just become a bad player.’
It’s interesting to hear Richards say this, as Salah was far from a world beater in terms of his output while at Fiorentina.
The 28-year-old scored nine goals and assisted four more in 26 appearances for the Serie A club, which is respectable, but hardly world class.
However, Richards could clearly see that a gem was developing behind the scenes, and he’s been proven correct.
Since leaving Fiorentina, Salah has blossomed into a stupendous forward.
He racked up 34 goals and 22 assists in 83 games for AS Roma, before recording silly numbers after a £34.3 million move to Anfield.
In 184 games for the Reds, Salah has a remarkable 115 goals, while he’s also assisted 45 more.
The former El Mokawloon SC attacker deserves praise for coming back to the Premier League.
After scoring just two goals in 19 appearances for Chelsea, Salah might’ve feared that England wasn’t for him, and could easily have stayed in Italy.
However, he decided to have another shot at Premier League life, which he deserves huge credit for.
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