A European football revelation for the last two or three years, Mohamed Salah earned himself an astonishing move to Jose Mourinho's Chelsea last January. To sign up the electric Egyptian winger to London, the club's officials had managed to beat off Liverpool and Tottenham to bring the former Swiss-based Salah to their squad. Salah did not seem overwhelmed by joining a club of Chelsea's stature or playing for arguably one of the best managers ever. He did not take much time to shine for his new club. Goals against Arsenal and Stoke and some massive performances from Salah showed he was ready to make it at the highest level before some inconsistent performances towards the end of the season saw his time on the pitch become limited, thereby not adding to his two goals tally. Before the start of this season there was some controversy surrounding Salah's future. His registration for an education scheme was overturned by the Egyptian Minister of Higher Education, which meant he was called up to the Egyptian military service. However, he was later freed of military service after negotiations between the Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb, the Minister of Higher Education and the Egyptian national manager, Shawki Gharib. Gharib, also the Pharaoh's head coach, was able to convince Mehleb that Salah is making his country proud by playing for one of the biggest sides in the world. Salah thus became free to focus on his football and on becoming one of Chelsea's stars in the new season. A brilliant start to the pre-season saw Salah score two goals and set up another two before the return of World Cup stars, such as Schurrle, Hazard and Willian, had his playing time limited once again. Chelsea play against new comers Burnley away from home in the first game of the season. Salah was unfortunately not included in the 18-man squad of the game, which raised a few eyebrows, as Salah seemed in excellent form in most of the games of the preseason. The game ended in a 3/1 win for Chelsea with newly signed Diego Costa scoring the first, while Schurrle and Ivanovic scored the second and third respectively. Reports from English tabloids have indicated that Chelsea are willing to send Salah out on loan to one of the mid-table English teams with the name of Everton. Chelsea's second game of the season saw them entertain another newcomer, Leicester City, to Stamford Bridge in a game that saw Salah outside the match squad for the second week running, much to the dismay of Egyptian fans who are waiting to see their star in action this season. Another Diego Costa goal and an Eden Hazard strike ensured Chelsea collected maximum points from what turned out to be a very tough game. Finally the third game for Chelsea saw Salah included in the squad as he took the place of Fernando Torres, who left the club to join AC Milan. However, Salah was an unused sub as Chelsea won 6-3 in what you can call one of the best matches in the history of the Premier League. The game saw two teams attacking magnificently and defending pathetically, especially the home side Everton, who witnessed Chelsea's former striker Samuel Etoo scoring for them on his debut. Three games are gone and Salah has not been in action at all. The transfer window is now over and Salah has not left. In fact, he was included in the Champions League squad, which means that Mourinho is counting on the Egyptian. Moreover, Egypt's former national team coach, Bob Bradley, said that he spoke to Mourinho about Salah during a friendly phone call and the Portuguese legend insisted that Salah has a major role to play this season and that his time will soon come. Mourinho told Bradley that Salah was certainly on the right path and that the only thing that he needs from him is to stop listening to critics and to focus on his game only. Salah can probably find himself in the team sooner rather than later as his main rivals for a spot in the team are not doing that well so far. While Schurrle might be playing well and building a case to stay in the starting eleven, Salah's two other rivals, Oscar and Willian, are not. This is especially true for Oscar, who was once been labelled by Mourinho as his favourite number 10 in the team. Oscar has been a shadow of himself in the first two weeks of the season, which saw him relegated to the bench against Everton and Willian, who started in place of his fellow Brazilian and had a below average game as well. The competition is fierce for that place alongside Diego Costa and Hazard, but both Oscar and Willian are not doing themselves a favour at the moment. If Salah can push himself a little harder, he can get ahead of them in the pecking order. Chelsea will be playing in four competitions this year and Salah will surely receive many chances to prove his worth. Salah has now got to hold his head high, train hard, go that extra mile and ensure that, whenever he is called up to play, he will be more than ready to build a case for himself to stay in the team. Salah's qualities and attributes are on the same bar or even better than those of his rivals. He showed glimpses of what he can do last season.
