‘I’m better than I was at Chelsea’ Liverpool sign Salah
NEW Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah has said he believes his second spell in the Premier League will be better than the first as a result of the experience he gained playing for Roma.
Liverpool confirmed the signing of Salah on Thursday in a deal that could be worth €50 million, according to the Serie A side.
The winger had been close to joining Liverpool from Basel in January 2014, but instead opted to move to Chelsea.
But he had an unsuccessful spell at Stamford Bridge, making just 19 appearances in two seasons before moving to Fiorentina on loan in 2015 and signing permanently for Roma last summer after a loan spell.
Asked whether he returns to the Premier League as a better player, he told the official Liverpool website: “100 percent, yes.
“Everything (has improved). Even my personality was different, I was a kid — I was 20 or 21. Now I’m four years older. I have lots of experience in three clubs: I was at Chelsea, then Fiorentina and then Roma.
“I like to play here in the Premier League. I’m happy to be back and I’m
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said he believed the acquisition of Salah improves his side’s already strong options in the final third of the pitch.
“Mohamed has the perfect mix of experience and potential — this is a really exciting signing for us,” he said.
“His pace is incredible, he gives us more attacking threat and we are already strong in this area. I like that he will make it even more competitive.
“Most important though, for us, is that he is hungry, willing and eager to be even better and improve further.
“He believes in what we are trying to do here at Liverpool and is extremely keen to be part of it.”
Salah will wear the No 11 shirt after Roberto Firmino agreed to switch to the No 9 squad number, and he said: “I appreciate what Firmino did — I have to thank him very much.
“I like the number 11 — it was my number in Rome and also the national team before.”— ESPN PROSECUTORS in Barcelona say they are not against replacing football star Lionel Messi’s 21-month jail sentence for tax fraud with a fine, a spokeswoman announced yesterday.
They said they were willing to give the 29-year-old a fine of 400 euros ($450) a day for the duration of the sentence – an option that the defence of the Argentina international has also proposed.
That would amount to more than 250 000 euros, although the court has the final decision over whether to go ahead with this option.
The daily fine would come on top of the 2.09-millioneuro fine Messi was also given when he and his father Jorge Horacio Messi were found guilty of tax fraud in a trial last year and sentenced to 21 months in jail.
Both appealed, but Spain’s Supreme Court last month confirmed the jail term for the Barcelona striker, although it reduced Messi’s father’s sentence to 15 months.
The pair used companies in Belize, Britain, Switzerland and Uruguay to avoid paying taxes on 4.16 million euros of Messi’s income earned from his image rights from 2007-09.
The income related to Messi’s image rights that was hidden includes endorsement deals with Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble and the Kuwait Food Company.
Messi is not the only football star to run into problems with Spain’s courts, with Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo the latest to have been summoned to appear before a judge investigating tax fraud.
He is due to be questioned on July 31 on suspicion of evading 14.7 million euros in taxes. — SuperSport