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Football

05th Apr 2016

Mohamed Salah turned down the chance to join Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers

Blue beat red

Darragh Murphy

Brendan Rodgers’ almost had another ‘S’ to add to forwards Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling during Liverpool’s title bid in 2013-14.

It’s emerged that Mohamed Salah snubbed the advances of Rodgers before making the ultimate decision to move to Chelsea.

The Egyptian winger, who currently finds himself at Roma, has revealed that the Reds tried to sign him from Basel in 2013 before a phone call from Jose Mourinho swayed him to join Chelsea.

Chelsea FC v Sporting Clube de Portugal - UEFA Champions League

“Liverpool had wanted me for a number of months. They had opened talks in October 2013,” Salah told MBC Masr.

“Negotiations took a long time, because Basel rejected more than one offer. They felt the transfer fee was not that high. I was waiting for Liverpool [to agree terms with Basel] because I really like Liverpool. I was eager to join them.

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“But then I received a phone call from Mourinho and that changed everything. He explained the situation to me and told me that he needed me at Chelsea. That was one of the main reasons why I joined Chelsea.

“Mourinho told me that he thought I was a good player and that he wanted me to pick Chelsea.”

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