Former Chelsea defender John Terry has defended Jose Mourinho’s history of letting players like Salah and De Bruyne leave Chelsea after they were not given an opportunity in the first team.
Salah and De Bruyne struggled to make an impression at Stamford Bridge under Mourinho and were forced to relaunch their careers in Serie A and the Bundesliga, respectively, before cementing their reputations as world-class talents at Liverpool and Manchester City.
Salah made just 19 appearances for Chelsea before being shipped out on loan to Fiorentina before signing permanently for Roma, while De Bruyne was afforded just nine before he left for Wolfsburg.
John Terry who currently is the Assistant Manager at Aston Villa offered a bizarre explanation as to why Salah and De Bruyne were not played by Mourinho.
“In my generation now, I see people like Salah and De Bruyne come through and not being able to match [Mourinho’s] standards at the time,” Terry told Dubai Eye radio station.
“They were very talented but very young individuals as well and Mourinho didn’t have time to put them in the team.
“He couldn’t take out a [Damien] Duff or a [Arjen] Robben because we were winning every single week and his job is on the line.
“If you come in and are 10% or 20% below the standard of those guys then you aren’t going to make that team.
“Fair play to them. They’ve gone away elsewhere and proved they’re good enough but at that time, they weren’t good enough for Chelsea.”
Duff and Robben helped Chelsea win back to back Premier League titles during Mourinho’s first spell in charge,
The former was, however, to leave in 2006, while a Dutch forward departed Stamford Bridge 12 months later.
De Bruyne did not arrive in west London until 2012, while Salah’s potential was snapped up in 2014.
