Antonio Conte responds to Jose Mourinho’s claim that it was Chelsea’s decision to sell Mohamed Salah

The Egyptian has been a revelation since leaving Roma for Liverpool last summer

Antonio Conte insists he sympathises with Jose Mourinho following the criticism he has received for overseeing Chelsea’s decision to sell Mohamed Salah.
Salah endured a troubled 18-month spell at Chelsea under Mourinho and was loaned out to Fiorentina before sealing a permanent move to Roma.
The Egypt international rediscovered his confidence and rebuilt his reputation in Serie A before returning to the Premier League in the summer following a £38million transfer to Liverpool.

Salah rarely played under Mourinho before joining Fiorentina on loan

Salah has been a revelation since his move to Anfield, scoring 43 goals in all competitions and was last weekend crowned the PFA Footballer of the Year.
Mourinho has regularly been criticised for his decision to sell Salah, and Kevin De Bruyne, during his second spell in charge of Chelsea, but on Thursday claimed it was the club’s decision to let the prolific forward go and Conte sypmathises with his predecessor’s plight.
He said: ‘This is not so simple because I think that we have to compare Salah from over four or five years ago, not with this Salah.
‘The Salah in the present he improved a lot and developed a lot. He developed his football and the experience in Italy was very important for him.
‘Now I am sure he is a different player compared to the past and for that reason it is difficult to have this comparison with this player.’

Mourinho on why Chelsea sold Salah

‘We decided to put him on loan and he asked for that as well. He wanted to play more minutes, to mature, he wanted to go and we sent him on loan to Fiorentina, and at Fiorentina he started to mature. Chelsea decided to sell him, OK?
‘And when they say that I was the one that sold him it is a lie. I bought him. I agreed to send him on loan, I thought it was necessary, I thought that Chelsea had wingers… Some of them are still there like Willian, [Eden] Hazard and all those players already in a different level.
‘So the decision to send him on loan was a decision we made collectively, but after that, the decision to sell him and to use that money to buy another player wasn’t mine.
‘But even if it was, in football we make mistakes a lot of times, so many times some players develop in way we were not expecting, some others don’t reach another level like we thought they would, so I don’t even think this is a mistake, it is just part of the job.
‘But effectively I did buy Salah, I didn’t sell Salah, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that he is a fantastic player, and I am really happy for everything that is happening for him and especially because he scores against everyone and he didn’t score against us in two games.’

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