Roma explain why Mo Salah sale to Liverpool was forced on them

Roma’s director of football Monchi insists the decision to sell Mohamed Salah last summer was one forced upon them by UEFA after he watched his former player all-but end their Champions League dreams on Tuesday night.

The Egyptian smashed in his 42nd and 43rd goals of an outstanding season and made two more as Liverpool crushed Roma 5-2 in the semi-final first leg.

Roma have been berated all season for the decision to sell Salah, most commonly believed to be for a fee of €42million (£36.9million), but Monchi claims the fee was far higher.

Furthermore, the Spaniard also suggests they only sold Salah after being forced into the sale by UEFA and their Financial Fair Play restrictions.

“I sold him for more than €42m,” an exasperated Monchi said when questioned about the Egyptian’s brilliant double for Liverpool on Tuesday night.

“We had a need to sell. We had no option but to sell Salah before June 30.

“Had we not done that, we probably wouldn’t be here playing the semi-final of the Champions League as we had UEFA closely monitoring us.

“When I arrived, the offer [from Liverpool] was €30m (£26.2) but we managed to get it up to almost €50m (£43.7m) with bonuses.

“That is what we could do. The market then went crazy with Neymar [joining Paris Saint-Germain and Philippe] Coutinho and [Ousmane] Dembele [both signing for Barcelona].

“He’s had an extraordinary season. We congratulate Liverpool for buying him. We had to sell him and the player wanted to leave.

“Unfortunately, we suffered that on Tuesday night because we know of his quality. He is a very strong player.”

Roma will welcome their former star back to the Italian capital for the return leg on Wednesday May 2.

 

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