Who Mohamed Salah has to thank for going from Chelsea flop to Liverpool superstar

Liverpool and Mohamed Salah turned out to be a match made in heaven. Some infamously questioned the wisdom of signing a "Chelsea flop" when he arrived back in the Premier League in 2017, but he wasted no time in silencing the doubters, quickly becoming a bona fide superstar.

His time at Chelsea was undoubtedly bruising. Speaking to Sky Sports back in 2019, Frank Lampard cited the number of other attacking options at Stamford Bridge at the time — he claims that you could see Salah's talent, but game time proved very hard to come by for the Egyptian.

Jose Mourinho reportedly once left Salah in tears in the dressing room. The wrong club at the wrong time, the winger ultimately left for Italy, first on loan to Fiorentina and then to Roma, a move which was later made permanent.

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He excelled in Serie A, scoring or assisting 48 league goals across his two seasons with Roma. That prompted Liverpool to come calling.

Would he be ready for the Premier League? That question was answered when Salah broke the division's scoring record in his debut campaign, netting 32 times and recording 10 assists for good measure.

There's no doubt that Liverpool has proved to be a nurturing environment for him. And his initial partnership with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane will go down in club folklore.

But in that same 2019 interview, Lampard made it clear that Salah has only himself to thank. He praised the now-32-year-old for coming back from rejection:

"The player that he is now, or that came back to Liverpool, I think you have to say huge credit is due. You don't have to search for anything more than look at Mo himself.

"You have to say what professionalism and work ethic, to leave a club like Chelsea is not easy. People then cast you aside and say you won't make it there.

"He went on to be the superstar he is now. It is completely credit to Mo himself."

Since then, Salah has continued to go from strength to strength. He's progressed from superstar to genuine legend, moving up to fifth on the list of Liverpool's all-time top scorers, ahead of Steven Gerrard.

In the Premier League charts, he's cracked the top 10, and is the highest-scoring player still playing in the league. His 18 goals last season was a personal low, but even if he can just match that again, he will move up to joint seventh alongside Thierry Henry.

All of this must have sounded completely unbelievable to Chelsea fans back in the mid-2010s. Salah really does need to give himself a huge amount of credit for so comprehensively turning the tables.

Liverpool.com says: We'd like to think Liverpool can take a little bit of the credit for taking the chance on Salah, and giving him the environment to thrive. Even so, he certainly needs to give himself the world of credit.

How many players have we seen disappear off the radar after getting a big move too soon? To not only fight back to the Premier League, but to shatter record after record, is the sign of an elite player with an elite mindset.