Adaptable and humble Mohamed Salah fits our model, says Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho

 
Switzerland's FC Basel midfielder Mohamed Salah
Simon Johnson24 January 2014

Basle winger Mohamed Salah has told Jose Mourinho he wants to move to Chelsea and is set to have a medical in Switzerland over the weekend before completing an £11m deal.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers admitted earlier today that he hadn’t given up hope of signing the Egyptian international, who he has been chasing throughout the month.

Chelsea have hijacked the deal however following their decision to sell Juan Mata to Manchester United for £37m, although he will only go once Salah is sealed.

It was thought Salah preferred a move to Anfield because he’d be guaranteed more first team football, but Mourinho says the 21-year-old has given him his word over a move to the capital.

He said: “We are confident (he will come), but it only goes forward with agreement with the player. He told me personally that he wants to come, but now it's personal terms, the medical he has to pass probably in Zurich or Lausanne, and hopefully he comes. Probably the situation is still open, or not closed.

“Maybe he (Rodgers) is right. I don't know what Liverpool did before us. The only thing we know is that we contacted Basle before we contacted the player. We went direct to Basle and asked them if the player was available for negotiations. They said yes. We reached an agreement with Basle.

“I like the fact that he can play the same way our attacking players do, which is players with adaptability to play right, left or behind the striker in the model we have with normally one striker and three behind the striker.

“He's young like our players in that area. He's fast, creative, enthusiastic. When we analyse him he looks the kind of humble personality on the pitch, ready to work for the team and adapt to a new life.

“We believe if he comes that he will have a similar process to the Willian one, because he needed two or three months to grow up and feel comfortable playing for us in the way we do.”

Much has been made of Salah’s refusal to shake hands with Maccabi Tel Aviv players while still playing for Basle last summer.

With Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich being Jewish, Salah’s political views have come into question.

But Mourinho said: “It's not a concern. We know the club Chelsea is. I know the manager I am. I know that Chelsea is capable of helping people and making people feel the way we think they should feel, which is, in football and life, be open and respectful to every ethnicity, every religion.

“People have the right to be what they are. We think Chelsea as a club, and me as a manager, will be more than ready to help him.

“We analysed the situation, spoke with the player and his people, and the situation put in front of him at 20 years old was not an easy situation to resolve. “He tried to do it where he was trying to find some balance – not enough for us, obviously, but no problems with this club.

“We know which owner we have and the variety of players we have, so this is a fantastic club to support a young boy to grow up and be strong.”

Mourinho also confirmed that he has held talks with Saint Etienne defender Kurt Zouma over a £10m deal and that midfielder Michael Essien, who is subject of a bid from AC Milan, can leave the club.

On Zouma, he said: “As you can see, Chelsea thinks about the future and when we think about the future we have scouting, we contact clubs and agents, we contact players when we have permission from clubs to do it, which is the case... and we try to be in control of the situation.”

On Essien, he confirmed: “Michael Essien is, in this moment, in a position where he can go or he can stay. If he stays we're more than happy he stays.

“He's another player who gave everything to this club and, if a great situation for him arrives, for his future or to give him a chance to go to the World Cup with more years of contract and a career at the high level, the same way Chelsea let him go to Madrid (last season) when I was there.

“If something big comes along, he's another one we feel we must show respect and not stop him go. But if he stays, he stays. And if he stays he's playing against Stoke this weekend. He's a player who we're more than happy if he stays.”

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