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Former Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas recently spoke about the rise of Mohamed Salah at Liverpool, having witnessed him struggle as a youngster for the Blues.
Chelsea discovered the raw talent of Salah when they faced his FC Basel team in the UEFA Europa League in the 2012-13 season. They tracked the youngster and manager Jose Mourinho pushed for his signing, as he was reportedly on the verge of joining Liverpool.
The Blues secured a deal for the Egyptian forward in January 2014, but he arrived in a team that was stacked in attacking talent. Eden Hazard, Willian, and Andre Schurrle were the three leading wingers at the club, and Salah had his work cut out for him.
Cesc Fabregas joined Chelsea from Barcelona in July 2014, six months after Mohamed Salah had signed for the club. They played together in the first half of the 2014-15 season before the Egyptian forward was sent out on loan to Serie A side Fiorentina.
In a recent appearance on BBC's Planet Premier League podcast, Fabregas described the younger version of Salah as not being very prolific in front of goal. He claimed that many of his attributes were already present in his game at the time, but he has now fine-tuned them to a high level. Fabregas said:
"He was not so prolific in front of goal. Maybe it was lack of chances. You could see his trends. You could see he was quick. You could see that he was attacking the spaces. But then when he had one against ones, maybe he was not as strong as he is now."
Since joining Liverpool from AS Roma in 2017, Salah has made 332 appearances for the Reds, registering 204 goals and 88 assists. He is widely regarded as one of the finest forwards in world football.
Mohamed Salah will be looking to secure his first international trophy at AFCON 2024
At club level, Mo Salah has enjoyed the greatest success possible, winning every major trophy with Liverpool, including the UEFA Champions League and Premier League. However, the Egyptian forward has so far been unsuccessful in leading his country to silverware.
Egypt have won AFCON seven times, more than any other country, but their last triumph came in 2010. Salah was part of the teams that lost the final to Cameroon in 2017 and Senegal in 2021.
In their opening game of the ongoing edition of AFCON, Egypt secured a 2-2 draw against Mozambique, thanks to Salah's penalty in second-half stoppage time. With 14 Premier League goals to his name in the first half of the season with Liverpool, the 31-year-old arrived at the tournament in red-hot form.
Egypt have a good chance of winning the trophy if their talismanic forward is at his best. He will need to bring his A-game against Ghana in their next group match to raise their chances of qualifying for the knockout stages.
