In the wake of Juan Mata’s exit to Manchester United, Chelsea have acted immediately to replace the Spaniard with the man dubbed as “The Eygptian Messi”.
Salah has impressed against Chelsea in the Champions League this season, scoring in both of their group stage games, including the winner in Switzerland.
رسمياً محمد صلاح ينضم لصفوف تشلسى Mohamed Salah Officially in @chelseafc admin pic.twitter.com/NqylXSRdVT
— Mohamed Salah (@momosalah22) January 23, 2014
The 21-year-old will now head to London to hold talks over personal terms and will also undergo a medical examination before the transfer can be confirmed.
The Egyptian can operate in a variety of roles, which will suit the way Chelsea play given the interchangeable nature of the midfield trio of Oscar, Hazard and Willian.
Competition will be tough for Salah
Salah will have plenty of competition for a midfield place, but given the rapid rise in his career thus far there’s seemingly no reason why he can’t rise to the challenge of playing at Stamford Bridge.
The fee involved has not been revealed yet but Salah is believed to be valued at around £11million by the Swiss side.
Given the potential profit from the sale of Mata, this fee will be a drop in the ocean for Chelsea, and given the players age and enormous potential this will be another brilliant bit of business by the Special One.
Salah was said to be the primary January target for Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers but he admitted earlier on Thursday that he was unlikely to be bringing anyone in.
This is the second time Chelsea have swooped to seize a player from a Premier League rival: in August, Mourinho engineered a move for Brazillian Willian right from under the noses of Tottenham and it seems with Salah the Mourinho factor has again proved too hard to resist.
selling juan mata to machester united is a big thorn in chelsea fc fans’s flesh