Jose Mourinho, the current Roma coach, defended himself against the constant accusations that he caused Chelsea to lose the services of the duo Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne in 2015.
The “Special One” was coach of the Blues when Salah joined them in the winter of 2014, but he soon left for Fiorentina on loan. As for De Bruyne, the following summer the English club sold him to Wolfsburg. In both cases, Mourinho is accused of being the reason for the duo’s desire to leave.
Mourinho said about Salah, "I was the one who bought Mohamed Salah and joined him to Chelsea. He was going from Basel to Liverpool, but I quarreled with him to change his mind, and I fought a strong war to bring him to Chelsea."
He also added, "When you are a Chelsea player, you have to perform well or sit and wait for the opportunity, but Mohamed Salah did not want to wait."
He continued, "He wanted to leave on loan, then Chelsea decided at some point to sell him permanently, and I was not the one who did that."
As for De Bruyne, he said, “My desire was for him to continue with Chelsea and not go out on loan. He stayed with us and actually started in the English Premier League.”
He continued, "He was a substitute in the European Super Cup match against Bayern, and the next day he wanted to leave. Then we played against United in the league and he participated in a few minutes. That was not enough for him, so he decided to leave."
He concluded, "Whether he or Salah, they were not able to be patient, and what they did in their careers later says that they were right, but I was not the reason. Some may say that I pushed them to leave, but this is not true."
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