Eden Hazard in sly dig at Mourinho, suggests Chelsea mistake ahead of Liverpool showdown

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For those who saw Mohamed Salah’s progression in Italy, it became pretty clear when Liverpool signed him that Chelsea could regret letting him go.

After the 25-year-old failed to settle at Chelsea between 2013 and 2015, he proved during spells with Fiorentina and particularly Roma, that all he needed was time and patience to improve and mature with playing time.

19 goals and 15 assists in 41 appearances for the Giallorossi last season prove that theory, and with Jurgen Klopp giving him a prominent role this season, he’s rewarded that faith with 14 goals and four assists in 19 outings.

In turn, he could look to really make the point that Chelsea made a mistake to let him go so early this weekend, and ultimately Hazard believes that the Egyptian international was never really given an opportunity to shine at Stamford Bridge, in what could be perceived as a dig at Mourinho who was manager at the time.

“He’s a top, top, top player,” said Hazard, as per Sky Sports. “He did not get his chance at Chelsea maybe because of the manager, because of the other players? I don’t know.

“He has quality but in that period I remember we had me, Willian, Oscar, so for him it was not easy.”

Chelsea will certainly hope that Salah doesn’t offer them a direct reminder of what they could have had this weekend, but for all the criticism that the Blues get for not showing enough faith in players, their trophy haul compared to their rivals arguably trumps it all.

The same has been said about the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne who were let go at an early stage in their respective careers without too many chances at Chelsea, and they’ve gone on to become key figures at rivals.

However, with two titles in the last three seasons, Chelsea will surely be happy with their strategy and will look to the likes of Hazard to secure more success in the coming years.

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