The poetic nature of clash with Chelsea for both signing of the summer Salah and Liverpool

There’s no getting away from the fact that his £36.9million signing was met with widespread pessimism after his ruinous spell at Chelsea tarnished his reputation as one of the most promising young players on the planet.

There were question marks around his capability to transfer his excellent Serie A form in England and in midweek former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard eloquated that feeling of doubt best.

“As a fan, I watched him at Chelsea and it didn’t really take off for him,” Gerrard said on BT Sport.

“Of course he hit top form at Roma but you’re thinking: ‘Is he a player suited to the Premier League?’

“And when he first came I, along with a lot of Liverpool fans, wasn’t totally sure how it was going to work out.”

But after breaking Robbie Fowler’s Liverpool record of eight goals in his first 12 Premier League games with a well-taken double against Southampton, the Pharaoh’s smile is as wide as the Nile.

With Chelsea’s visit to Anfield on Saturday comes a timely reminder of Salah’s maturity into one of the most electric wingers in Europe and a warning of just how much work there is left for Liverpool to contend for a Premier League title once more.

Indeed, this is a game which will showcase where both club and player are at and there is something quite poetic about this fixture for Salah and the Reds.

On one of his rare starts in Chelsea blue came a personal nadir for the 25-year-old when Jose Mourinho’s side blew open the 2013/14 title race with a 2-0 win at Anfield in April to snap Liverpool’s 11-game winning run.

That day the Egyptian was arguably the visitor’s worst player and he was unceremoniously hauled off on the hour mark for Willian.

His Chelsea career and Liverpool’s title hopes were extinguished shortly thereafter but if one stat is indicative of the club’s regression and Salah’s progression since then it’s this – no Liverpool player has scored more than 14 goals in a season since Luis Suarez left for Barcelona in 2014.

It’s November and Salah has already scored 14 times – both reason for hope and depression in equal measure.

But just how has one of the fastest players in Europe slowly morphed into the player Chelsea hoped he would be when they signed him from Basel?

After joining Fiorentina on loan, Salah announced himself immediately with nine goals and four assists in 26 games. His performances saw Roma jump to secure him on loan with an option to buy for £12.75m and after scoring 33 goals and laying on a further 17 assists in two years in the Italian capital they made the move permanent.

That he has been chronically undervalued owes to the lingering doubt which hung over him because even at £36.9m – though FFP regulations played a role in the lowball fee – Salah appears a bargain and most certainly the signing of the summer.

“He’s a man now, he was a kid at Chelsea, now he’s a man. That’s good.” Klopp said recently.

The German is right because physically, Salah has certainly developed his man-strength and mentally he seems much more impervious, too.

If there is one drawback ironically it’s his finishing.

The fluid nature of Liverpool’s fab four opens the gates for Salah’s intelligent movement to be frequently let in at the back post but too many times glorious chances have been missed.

Granted, with a shot conversation rate of 21 percent (nine goals from 42 shots) – put into context that’s better than Harry Kane 12.5 percent (eight from 64 shots) and

Romelu Lukaku’s 19 percent (eight from 42 shots) – it’s hardly substandard but the quality of his opportunities are golden.

No doubt one will arrive on Saturday but score again this month against his former employers and perhaps they’ll call this month Mo’vember.