International level, opposition outside the somewhat weak Italian league.
I don't get why people still see the Serie A as a somewhat 'weak' league. Juventus made it to the Champion's League final, Napoli made it to the last 16, both were knocked out by a far superior Real Madrid. Roma should've been in it if it weren't for the idiotic red cards they received in the qualification round against Porto. Where were the English teams? Did they do any better? AC Milan and Inter might not be the teams they once were, Lazio, Roma, Napoli and Juventus have very good teams. Southampton was in an EL group with Inter (Inter finished 7th in their league, same as Southamption in the PL) and they were close games at a time when Inter was clearly struggling. The bottom of their league might be weak, but so is the PL's.
As for Roma as a team and Salah as a player, they managed to keep up with Juventus quite well, only finishing 4 points off of the top spot. They also beat that Juventus team 3-1 at home (Juventus weren't at full strenght, but still fielded a very strong side). Roma are quite an exciting team to watch, they scored 90 goals, far more than Juventus and only beaten by Napoli, another very good attacking side. Salah was a big part of that attacking front three unit (or four, if you want to include Nainggolan who often played as something between a number 8 and 10). They regularly dominated games, so limiting Salah's strong points to 'pace and useful on the counter-attack' is wrong. He's a very technical player, good in tight areas and what's actually one of the most important things for me, a genuine left foot, something we just don't have in our current squad and which will change the dynamic of our team.
Pointing to his period at Chelsea three years ago is also pointless. He was a 21 (or 22?) year old player, coming from the Swiss League straight to one of the PL's top teams. He was never given the time to adapt to the league and wasn't given many chances in the starting eleven either. He has come a long way since then and has developed very well at Fiorentina and Roma. No matter the league or the team, having a foot in about 35 goals in 40 games is very impressive.
I hope we sign him and that he goes on to be a cracking player for us. Every transfer is a risk, but if the player himself is willing to come back to the PL after having previously 'failed' here, he must have confidence in his abilities to succeed this time and he will have a point to prove.
Logged