The real story of Mohamed Salah and why he wants to prove Chelsea right

Back in 2015, Mohamed Salah was seeing out the season with Fiorentina in Italy when a message came through from his parent club Chelsea.

The Londoners had just sealed the Premier League title, and manager Jose Mourinho was keen to reward his players for their efforts.

Even if, as was the case with Salah, they had featured for merely half-an-hour over three substitute appearances.

“Not all of them will get an official medal,” said Mourinho of his squad members. “But yes, we are going to buy medals.

“Schurrle, Salah, Schwarzer, Lewis Baker... all of them who started the season with us. They have been invited to the last match and the Player of the Year dinner. They belong to us.”

Salah belonged to Chelsea but never truly integrated under Mourinho, the man who brought him to Stamford Bridge for £11million from Basel in January 2014.

It was a time fraught with uncertainty for the attacker, despite an encouraging start that saw him claim two goals and two assists in 10 appearances during his first few months at the club.

One of those appearances, of course, came in Liverpool's 2-0 home defeat to Chelsea that ultimately wrenched the Premier League title out of their grasp and handed it to Manchester City.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8Cancel Play now

The summer saw speculation Salah may not even be around Stamford Bridge at all, with claims he could be forced to return to Egypt to serve military service having had his allowance to travel from the country withdrawn after his registration on a required education program was rescinded.

The situation was swiftly resolved, the government no doubt keen to avoid negative publicity surrounding the man dubbed “the Egyptian Messi”.

Not that Chelsea had seen such evidence of that, the player shipped off to Fiorentina for six months in January 2015, then moving to Roma on an initial season-long loan before switching permanently, a deal concluded more than 18 months after his last appearance in the Premier League.

Salah didn't look back. Now, with Liverpool once again locking horns with Chelsea again on Sunday, the 27-year-old takes on the club where he admits his experience made him determined to succeed at Anfield.

“Three years ago I didn't play much, but since day one back in England I wanted to show what I can do.,” Salah told FourFourTwo magazine last year.

Salah hasn't done badly. PFA Player of the Year, FWA Footballer of the Year and two Premier League Golden Boots individually, and a goal in the winning Champions League final against Tottenham Hotspur in June.

Frank Lampard, now in charge of Chelsea, played alongside Salah briefly at Stamford Bridge.

"The talent was obviously there but at that time we had a lot of options in attacking areas – wingers, number 10s and striker-type players and he did not get many opportunities for whatever reason," he said.

For his part, Mourinho isn't one for being wise after the event.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8Cancel Play now

“I'm not surprised with Salah's performance this season,” he told BeIN Sports last year. “I was aware of his great capabilities when he was with me at Chelsea.

“He improved during his spell at Italy, became more mature and improved physically.

“Players need time to adapt to their new teams. Some of them remain and others prefer to move to another club. It is normal in football.”

Salah, of course, isn't alone in prospering in life after Chelsea. “Maybe now he works with managers who are more willing to give him more responsibility,” said former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba in a less than subtle dig.

Salah has four in five Premier League games already this season, and netted a screamer when teams last met at Anfield in April.

Liverpool are aiming to extend their club record to 15 successive victories at Stamford Bridge. And Salah feels far more at home at Liverpool than he ever did at Chelsea.