Only five months ago Mohamed Salah was warming the bench for Chelsea, hoping to play for a few minutes every now and then. Coach Jose Mourinho and Salah decided that it would be better for the player to move abroad on loan to play more and to see after that if he returns to London or leaves permanently. A deal was struck with Fiorentina to buy their pacey winger Cuadrado for $25 million in addition to Salah moving on loan for six months with an option to extend it to another season. Chelsea fans were ecstatic to get a player like Cuadrado while Fiorentina's supporters were a bit upset to see their star man leaving and replaced with a relatively unknown player in the form of Salah. But the extraordinary Salah made the most of playing without pressure and now after five months in Italy you can certainly say he's one of the best five players in the second half of the season in Serie A. Salah has been a revelation in the Italian league and the Europa League and helped his team reach the semi-finals of the latter. If it wasn't for Fiorentina's awful defence Salah could have been playing in the final. Salah played 19 games so far and has scored seven goals and assisted on six but it wasn't just these stats that impressed the most. Salah's frightening speed and ability to beat defenders with ease were the most eye-catching aspects of his loan spell with La Viola which was confirmed by Juventus' boss Massimiliano Allegri. “Mohamed Salah is the most dangerous player in Serie A at the moment as his speed and trickery can cause problems to any team in the world”. These words were said after Salah tormented Allegri's team in the first leg of the Italian Cup semi-final when Salah scored both goals (the first was out of this world) as Fiorentina defeated Juventus 2-1 away from home before surprisingly losing 3-0 in the second leg. In the Europa League Salah could not prevent La Viola from losing 5-0 on aggregate against holders Sevilla as the Spanish team was in full control of both matches. However, Salah was chosen on the team of the week in both legs of the semi-finals which just shows how good the Egyptian is even when he doesn't score. Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Montella himself admitted after they bowed out that Salah was the only shining light on his team in the semis but needs more support from his teammates. On the other hand, Cuadrado is having a nightmare in London as he played only 11 games mostly as a substitute and failed to score or assist in any goals. When asked to give his opinion about Salah's impact with La Viola, Fiorentina's president Della Valle said, “We replaced a great player in Cuadrado with another exceptional player in Salah but Salah scores more than Cuadrado which makes us feel winners in this deal.” Della Valle's words were echoed by Montella who expressed his delight at having a player like Salah at his disposal. “Salah is a player who's capable of doing extraordinary things on the pitch and obviously the fans here loved him so quickly that he's already having his own song sung every game. Players like him make my job much easier.” On the other hand, Mourinho made a nice gesture when he invited both Salah and German international Andre Schurrle to come to Chelsea's last game of the season to celebrate winning the Premier League title with their former teammates since both of them played a small part in the title charge. Mourinho sent a message to Salah: “Come to the last match of the season to collect your Premier League medal… you deserve it and keep shining in Italy. I'm watching you.” It remains unclear whether Salah will return to Chelsea, stay with La Viola or leave to one of the interested clubs such as Tottenham, Roma and Juventus as has been reported. In a couple of weeks the season will end and Salah will surely discuss his future with Mourinho to decide his next step. As for now, Salah will most certainly want to shine in the last two league games to ensure he gives himself every chance of either returning to the English champions or at least nail a move to one of Europe's big teams where he can play Champions League football.
