Liverpool transfers: Mohamed Salah wants to join Chelsea – Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho is confident that Basel midfielder Mohamed Salah wants to join Chelsea ahead of Liverpool.

The Blues announced that they had agreed a fee – believed to be around £11m – with Basel for the Egyptian star on Thursday, despite the Merseyside club having been heavily linked with the 21-year-old.

And Mourinho has lifted the lid on Chelsea’s step-by-step approach to signing Salah, who scored home and away against the Blues in this season’s Champions League.

I don’t know what Liverpool did before us. We went direct to Basel and we asked if the player was available

Jose Mourinho

“It was a surprise for us that Juan [Mata] was leaving and we were not prepared to try to bring in a player to replace him in the squad,” Mourinho told a news conference on Friday.

“So everything happened very, very fast. We had to work on that and to see which option could be good options for us. We finally decided to try to go for Salah.

“We started from zero. We had no contact with the club. We didn’t know who the player’s agent was. The first step was an agreement with the club which we made official.

“So that situation is done, subject to the medical which we haven’t had yet and subject to the player’s desire to join us or not.

“Now we know that he wants [to join] and he’s happy his club has an agreement with Chelsea, but we have to finalise.”

Mourinho’s comments come after Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers told talkSPORT on Friday morning that the Reds were refusing to concede defeat in the race to sign Salah.

But Mourinho was unable to shed any light on Liverpool’s interest, adding that Salah had personally told him that he wants to move to Stamford Bridge.

“Maybe he’s right [that Liverpool still have a chance],” Mourinho continued.

“I don’t know what Liverpool did before us. We went direct to Basel and we asked if the player was available to be negotiated and they said yes, so we reached an agreement with Basel.”