AS Roma have said that selling Mohamed Salah is one of the reasons they have been able to reach this season’s Champions League semifinal.
The Italian giants said they were forced to sell Salah to Liverpool last summer under financial pressure from UEFA.
They also revealed that Liverpool paid close to €50million for the Egyptian.
Roma sporting director, Monchi spoke with reporters immediately after Salah helped Liverpool to a 5-2 thrashing of the Italians in the Champions League semifinal first leg at Anfield last night.
After a unsuccessful spell at Chelsea, Salah returned to the Premier League having rebuilt his reputation in Serie A with both Fiorentina and Roma.
At the time, Liverpool were reported to have recruited Salah for the bargain price of €42m but Monchi insists he was able to extract more from the Anfield club.
Monchi said, “I sold him for more than €42m. 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 semifinal of the Champions League as we had UEFA closely monitoring us.
“When I arrived, the offer [from Liverpool] was €30m but we managed to get it up to almost €50m 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.”
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