‘Very close’: Mohamed Salah names the player who was like an ‘older brother’ to him during his time at Chelsea

A decision Chelsea might always regret is selling Mohamed Salah to Roma in 2016.

Since then, the now-Liverpool legend has gone on to become one of the best players in the world and is regarded as an all-time great of the game.

But at Chelsea, Mohamed Salah was a mere young prospect with a bright future.

Jose Mourinho had faith in Salah but even so, he was publicly critical of the Egyptian superstar during a press conference in 2014 — a move alongside his lack of game time that must have prompted the decorated wideman to eventually depart Stamford Bridge.

While Mohamed Salah always had the talent to go on to become the world-class player he is, settling into English football is a challenge for all players across different ages.

Making his way from Swiss club Basel where the Nagrig-born forward had made a name for himself was a huge step-up in his career.

Mohamed Salah says David Luiz was like his “older brother” at Chelsea

Joining a Chelsea side that had experienced figures in the dressing room such as John Terry, Fernando Torres, Branislav Ivanovic and David Luiz may also have intimidated Salah initially.

Reflecting on his time in West London, the Champions League winner revealed that he is no longer in touch with any of his former teammates.

However, Salah revealed that after leaving Chelsea, he spoke to Luiz a few times — who always took care of him during his time at the club and was like an “older brother” to him.

The Reds icon told Optus Sport: “No, maybe I spoke a couple of times with David Luiz. I think they were very close to me, especially David when I was at Chelsea. I was quite young and I was shy in that time, I don’t know what happened to me now but in that time, I was always alone.”

“So, David was like an older brother, he was always trying to take care of me and talk to me all the time.”

Salah, who could now win the Ballon d’Or has become a special player and perhaps one of the reasons why he had the faith to return to the Premier League in the first place is because Luiz always seemed to back him as a player. Judging by how the former Fiorentina goalscorer still speaks about the Brazilian is reflective of how much he is grateful for his support.

Mohamed Salah and David Luiz record together at Chelsea

Salah and Luiz did not have much of a chance to play together at Chelsea.

At the time, the former Paris Saint-Germain centre-back was a regular starter while the former was a squad player.

Furthermore, Salah also spent two seasons on loan at Fiorentina and Roma.

But the pair did play with each other six times at Chelsea.

When Salah and Luiz were on the pitch simultaneously for Chelsea, they won three games, drew two and lost one.

One of the results was the Blues’ famous 6-0 win against Arsenal which happened to be Arsene Wenger’s 1000th game in charge but it seems like the revered attacker loved their time together.