In October last year, AS Roma released an official financial statement announcing the purchase of then Chelsea loanee Mohamed Salah, just two months after the player agreed to join the Giallorossi on a one-year loan deal. Today, Chelsea caught up and finally made things official as well.
(Considering the Salah was included on the Premier League retained list a couple months ago, perhaps the move that Roma claimed wasn't entirely complete yet. Or whatever. This is just the latest confusing episode regarding Salah's Chelsea career.)
.@22mosalah has completed a permanent transfer to Italian club Roma... https://t.co/vVCZYpg23Y
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) 3 August 2016
Salah, who beat out Radja Nainggolan, Miralem Pjanic, and Francesco Totti to AS Roma's Player of the Season award, is still subject to the whole transfer drama between Fiorentina and Chelsea, with the slow wheels of justice currently mulling over la Viola's latest appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
But, for now, so ends Salah's two-and-a-half-year association with Chelsea, only twelve months of which were actually spent with Chelsea. By all accounts, he remains the same player as the one we'd seen at Stamford Bridge, an often skilled winger with decent finishing, who has world class pace and looks the business if afforded the time and space. Chelsea spent £11m on him 2014; via his loan fees (€5m+) and the buy-option of rumored to be around €15m, we've even turned a measurable profit to make the bottom line happy.
Best of luck, Momo.