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''We had a necessity to sell salah before June 30th Explain Roma's Monchi''

 

The Egyptian international moved to Anfield for a fee thought to be around £36m, and has been unspotable, firing in all cylinder. With 28 goals in 30 English Premier League matches this season, nobody in Europe's top five leagues has scored more than Salah.

Salah has already almost doubled his output of 15 goals for Roma in Serie A last season - which was a career-high for the speedy Egypt international. Overall he has 36 goals in 40 matches in all competitions this season.

Due to the 25-year-old's form, questions have been raised about why Roma let the attacker leave, particularly for what is deemed a relatively low figure in the current market.

''On Salah there are two important things to understand,'' Monchi said at Rome's Foreign Press Association on Wednesday. ''First, Salah was sold before the Neymar effect revolutionized the market. Second, we had a necessity to sell Salah before June 30.''

Facing potential financial fair play penalties from UEFA, Roma needed to balance its books by the end of June and the Salah sale erased a big chunk of the club's deficit.

''Anyone who understands a bit of this business knows that that's like having a sword pointed at your neck,'' Monchi said. ''So taking into account these two conditions I think we made a sale that was fairly big.''

Just a few months later, however, the transfer market spiraled out of control when Neymar left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain for a world-record fee of 222 million euros. Also, Kylian Mbappe went from Monaco to Barcelona in a deal that could reach 145 million euros and Ousmane Dembele's move from Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona also topped the 100 million mark.

Then in January, Liverpool sent Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona in a move that should also exceed 100 million euros.

''True, he then became an incredible player and with the Neymar effect and Mbappe, Dembele, Coutinho, he surely demands a higher price now,'' Monchi said. ''But these two things are important to understand. Otherwise it seems that Monchi is a bit blind.''

At the time of the transfer, Monchi had a hard time believing that Salah would prosper in the English Premier League.

''It's strange, because he returned to a league where he didn't perform well in before when he was at Chelsea,'' Monchi said. ''But he found a coach that believed in him and great teammates. It's a squad that suits his style of football more.''