Salah's father trolls Fiorentina: 'Mohamed happier with Roma'
Mohamed Salah's father has spoken about his son's brief time in Rome.
Having joined after a long and acrimonious summer transfer saga, the former Chelsea player has adapted to life in the capital well, notching six league goals as Roma continue to fly high in the table.
The attacking midfielder's father, however, was all too happy to snipe at Fiorentina, who did everything possible to keep the Egyptian international at the Artemio Franchi, even threatening legal action.
"Mohamed is certainly happier in Roma than he was in Florence. He plays for a team that wants to win titles," Salah Ghaly told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"When he goes out everyone celebrates him. The Italians are a friendly people, they're very similar to Egyptians. Moreover, there are many Egyptians here anyway, Mohamed feels at home".
"All his team-mates like him, especially Nainggolan, who was the first to lose his rag after Lulic's crunching tackle,"
"Salah's relationship with Rudi Garcia is better than excellent. Even Totti likes him and helps him.
"The Giallorossi want to win the title."
Salah Ghaly then went into detail about how his son came to Serie A in the first place on a mid-season loan, quickly settling in by blasting six league goals and adding four assists in his brief stint with Fiorentina.
"Mohamed was scared of going to Florence, it was a completely new world to him. I, however, told him that the loan deal was just for six months, and that if he got benched it would be no different to his Chelsea experience, and that if he played it'd be much better. It was the right decision, Mohamed introduced himself brilliantly to Italian football. I knew he'd be a great success if he moved to Europe".
Salah Sr. also spoke of his son's injury, which came during Roma's 2-0 derby win over Lazio. It will likely keep the 23-year-old out for four to six weeks.
"His injury in the derby was one of the ugliest moments in mylife. We were very scared, we didn't know what to do. Our fears were assuaged when he told his sister that he was all right, and hadn't broken his foot. He told us he'd be back in action in a month, though his doctors told him not to rush back".
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Mohamed's father also had some interesting insights into how his son cut his teeth when he was still a promising young player in Egypt.
"I still remember when he started out in El Mokawloon's youth setup. One day he came to me and told me there was a coach who was always getting on his back, Mohamed told me couldn't take it any more. At the time, Al Ahly and Al Zamalek were interested in him, so I told him to stay and prove to the coach that he would become the most important player on the team. I suggested he focus on moving to Europe. And that's what happened, he became El Mokawloon's most important player and you can see for yourselves what he's doing in Europe".
