Arsenal boss Unai Emery turned down Liverpool star Mohamed Salah for PSG transfer

What might have been | Salah was turned down by PSG
Action Images via Reuters
James Benge28 December 2018

Arsenal boss Unai Emery has revealed he turned down the chance to sign Mohamed Salah when manager of Paris Saint-Germain due to doubts over whether the then-Roma forward could cut it at a “big team”.

Salah has emphatically proven Emery wrong since joining Liverpool in the summer of 2017, scoring a remarkable 44 goals in his first season and adding a further fifteen this term.

It is a return that means Liverpool will view the £34million they paid Roma as a bargain but it was not a price that PSG were prepared to meet for a forward who had struggled at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho.

“We spoke about the possibility to sign Salah to PSG when he was playing at Roma,” Emery said. “We had some doubts - and then he signed for Liverpool and these doubts he has broken at Liverpool.

“The doubts were as to how he can take the performance into one big team. For example like PSG in Paris. But today I can say to you … if you are speaking about the five top players in the world, one is Salah.”

Liverpool have not dropped a point in the Premier League since their 1-1 draw at the Emirates in February, a run of form that has propelled them to the top of the table, six points clear of Tottenham and with a further point buffering them from champions Manchester City, who have been beaten by Crystal Palace and Leicester in their last two games.

Emery has spoken of his desire to replicate Jurgen Klopp’s success at Anfield with his new club and noted how shrewd spending on the Liverpool defence had seen them emerge as title contenders, just as the Spaniard is tasked with solving Arsenal’s longstanding troubles at the back.

He said: “It is a very big surprise how Manchester City lost their two last matches. It is a surprise for me and I think for all and at the moment, Liverpool didn't have mistakes in their matches.

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“They created this team. I remember three years ago they had a problem in their defensive moments and bought some people - for example Virgil van Dijk - with a good investment and the result is we are looking today at their progress. They are a very big team.”

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