Chelsea letting Liverpool sign Mohamed Salah from AS Roma will be their biggest regret despite letting the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku go as well.
The Reds signed him in 2017 for £34.3million and has since been the best forward in the Premier League, scoring a total of 95 Premier League goals in Red.
To make matters worse for the Blues, right-wing has been an area of the pitch that could have used more quality and since he signed for Liverpool, Chelsea haven’t won the Premier League.
Their finishes in the league have been fifth in 2017/18, third in 2018/19, fourth in 2019/20 and fourth in 2020/21.
LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 03: Jurgen Klopp of Liverpool with Frank Lampard of Chelsea after Chelsea’s 2-0 win during the FA Cup Fifth Round match between Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC at Stamford Bridge on March 03, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images)
Frank Lampard might not have succeeded at Chelsea but he did wonders for their approach to promoting young players to the first team, with Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Reece James all making a huge impact for the Blues.
The likes of Salah live on as a cautionary tale for Chelsea and Marina Granovskaia will be able to relay the moral of the story to Thomas Tuchel and future managers at Stamford Bridge.
For Liverpool, the Egyptian is, pound for pound, their greatest signing of the last 30 years, is an Anfield legend and should be a legend in England as a whole but he is criminally underrated by those not affiliated with the Reds.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 14: Mohamed Salah of Liverpool celebrates after scoring his side’s third goal to make the score 3-1 during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Newcastle United at Anfield on September 14, 2019 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Daniel Chesterton/Offside/Getty Images)
Salah carried Liverpool this season and without his 22 league goals, they likely would have missed out on finishing in the top four and may well have even finished in the Conference League spots.
Admittedly, he isn’t the most aesthetic player but he is ruthlessly efficient and is capable of scoring 30 goals a season with the proper service.
An issue Liverpool will run into this season will be when Salah and Sadio Mane head off to AFCON with Egypt and Senegal in January which will leave Jurgen Klopp dangerously shorthanded in attack.
Diogo Jota can certainly bear a decent amount of the attacking load but Roberto Firmino will need to contribute more than he did this season while a new forward is definitely needed to ensure the Reds don’t run into major trouble.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 22: Diogo Jota of Liverpool celebrates scoring with team mate Roberto Firmino during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Leicester City at Anfield on November 22, 2020 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Visionhaus)
With Virgil van Dijk returning to defence and Jordan Henderson back in the middle of the park, Liverpool should once again return to their machine-like way of grinding out results.
The arrival of Ibrahima Konate is very exciting as well and, aside from Virgil van Dijk, he is the only centre-back that I have been truly excited to watch.
