It's not been a great season for Jose Mourinho. For the first time, he has failed to win the league during his second season at a club, with Manchester City running away with the title. While he has improved United this season, they have frequently got a bout of anemia on the biggest stage, with the season marred by a few curiously lame performances, the worst being the pitiful Champions League exit to Sevilla.
And on top all of this, as Mourinho wrestles with claims he doesn't have what it takes to bring the best out of Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, and United's other mercurial talents, he has had to look at Mo Salah and Kevin De Bruyne dominate the league, both of whom he sold when he was Chelsea manager.
Speaking to ESPN Brazil yesterday, in light of the latest remarkable night in Mo Salah's extraordinary season, Mourinho said that he wasn't to blame for Salah leaving Chelsea. In fact, he said he deserved credit for signing him.
It is the first time that I am going to say this, but it is another injustice that has been talked about me.
People say that I was the one that sold Salah and it is the opposite.
I bought Salah.
It is the opposite. I was the one that bought Salah. I was the one that told Chelsea to buy Salah. It was with me in charge that Salah came to Chelsea. But he came as a young kid, physically he was not ready, mentally he was not ready, socially and culturally he was lost and everything was tough for him.
We decided to put him on loan and he asked for that as well. He wanted to play more minutes, to mature, he wanted to go and we sent him on loan to Fiorentina, and at Fiorentina he started to mature.
Mourinho said that he was delighted to see Salah playing so well for Liverpool, although this being Jose, this generous compliment had to be refracted through his own self-interest.
Effectively I did buy Salah, I didn't sell Salah, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that he is a fantastic player, and I am really happy for everything that is happening for him and especially because he scores against everyone and he didn't score against us in two games.
The full piece is on ESPN.
