Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy has dismissed claims that Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah failed at Chelsea in his first English Premier League stint.
The 25-year-old joined the Blues from Basel in January 2014 but could only manage to score two goals in 13 league games before he joined Fiorentina on loan in February 2015.
After joining the Anfield Stadium outfit this summer for a club-record fee from Roma where he notched 15 efforts in 31 Serie A outings last campaign.
The Egypt international has proved himself in Jurgen Klopp’s team with 18 goals in 23 appearances across all competitions this season.
And the former England international disclosed that Salah’s inability to establish himself in the Blues’ fold was because of the presence of Brazil’s Willian and Belgium international Eden Hazard.
“I'd seen him play a few times before he went to Chelsea and liked him a lot,” Murphy told Starsport.
“Not only his pace, but his close control and awareness.
"I didn't know he had this many goals in him or was as comfortable in front of goal.
"He then never got a chance at Chelsea. People say he went there and failed, but you don't fail if you don't play and the reason he didn't play was Willian and [Eden] Hazard.
"It's the same with [Kevin] De Bruyne. Was he ever going to play instead of [Frank] Lampard? No.
“Sometimes it takes you going away, playing somewhere else and getting the confidence up even more.”
Salah who has scored seven goals in Liverpool's last five league games, is the leading topscorer in the Premier League with 12 goals from 15 games.
The forward will aim to continue his impressive goalscoring run and help the Reds grab maximum points when they host Everton for Sunday's Merseyside derby.
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