Mohammed Salah: Roma say they sold Liverpool star because of FFP restrictions

At just £39m, Salah has proven to be a bargain for Livepool with over 40 goals so far this season.

Sporting director of AS Roma Monchi has stated that the club sold Mohammed Salah to Liverpool during the 2017 summer transfer window due to UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) restrictions.

Sold for £39m, Salah has been sensational since his move from Roma, contributing 43 goals for Jurgen Klopp’s side in all competitions.

The transfer came back to hurt Roma as Salah was at his best again, netting two goals and contributing two assists against them in Liverpool's 5-2 in the first leg semi-final Champions League clash.

Stating why Roma sold the 25-year-old Monchi has come out to say that they were forced to do that to comply with the FFP rules.

“I sold him for more than €42m. We had a need to sell. We had no option but to sell Salah before 30 June,” Monchi told Onda Cero.

“Had we not done that, we probably wouldn’t be here playing the semi-final of the Champions League as we had Uefa closely monitoring us.

“We didn’t want to sell him but we had no choice. We had to take an offer before the end of the month. He wanted to leave, but we would have kept him if the regulations weren’t against us.”

Salah's sensational form for Liverpool this season has suggested that Roma sold him for cheap compared to the sign-on fees of the likes of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

Monchi, however, revealed that Salah was sold before the transfer of Neymar.

“When I arrived, the offer [from Liverpool] was €30m but we managed to get it up to almost €50m with bonuses. That is what we could do. The market then went crazy with Neymar, Coutinho and Dembele," Monchi added.

“He’s had an extraordinary season. Of course, people have questioned why we sold him. We congratulate Liverpool for buying him.

“We had to sell him and the player wanted to leave. Unfortunately, we suffered that on Tuesday night because we know of his quality. He is a very strong player.”

Roma will be looking to get one over Salah and Liverpool as they eye another remarkable comeback in the Champions League when they host the second leg Champions League semi-final clash.