Mohamed Salah says he was desperate to prove his Chelsea doubters wrong and this is key to him making his Premier League return with Liverpool last summer.
The Egyptian was a target for former boss Brendan Rodgers in the January transfer window of 2014, but opted to make a £12m switch from Basel to Stamford Bridge instead.
However, Salah flopped with the Londoners, playing just 19 games before he moved to Serie A on loan with Fiorentina, and, later, Roma.
After re-establishing himself during his time with Roma by netting 19 goals last term, Salah came back to England’s top flight with Liverpool in a £36.9m deal last summer, and the electric wideman has enjoyed a sensational debut campaign at Anfield.
Salah became just the third player in Liverpool history to score 40 goals in a season when he netted in a 3-0 win over Bournemouth last Saturday, and the 25-year-old admitted the opportunity to prove his detractors wrong was a factor in his decision to move back to England.
He told Sky Sports : “I know from the first day I wanted to do something different, something special.
“I was here with Chelsea, didn’t get my chance, and then came back. I wanted to show everyone my football.
“I didn’t play. You can see by the numbers. I didn’t have my chance, but you can see when I did get my chance I proved some people wrong.”
Any lingering doubts have long since evaporated thanks to an incredible debut season that leaves 30-goal Salah just two goals short of setting a new record for a 38-game Premier League campaign report the Liverpool Echo .
The 31-goal haul is currently shared between Alan Shearer , Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez , and Salah made no bones about his plans to topple the trio.
“As you can see in the last couple of games, the players are trying to help me a lot now to score goals, because they know now I am in for the Golden Boot,” he added.
“The way we play is very good, and you can see the fans are very happy and I feel very good about that, I feel they want me to win something.
“It’s the last four games, so it’s very clear, I play for it. In the beginning I played for it, but it’s always for the team. I want to score for the team.”
