Tuesday 24 April 2018 23:03, UK
Roma chairman James Pallotta says Liverpool got an "unbelievable bargain" when they signed Mohamed Salah and admits he has been surprised by the Egyptian's success at Anfield.
Salah joined the Reds in a £34.3m transfer during the summer window and has since amassed 41 goals for the club in just 46 games.
The Egyptian will come up against his former side when Roma travel to face Liverpool in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Tuesday night, and Pallotta admits he could do little to prevent Salah joining the Reds for a relatively modest fee in June.
"When you look at it now, you can say it's an unbelievable bargain," Pallotta told ESPN.
"The issue at the time was that when [director of football] Monchi came in, Salah wanted to leave, he had a year left on his contract so in another year you'd get nothing.
"He wanted to go back [to the Premier League] and prove himself, which he certainly has done.
"We can't tell you that anybody else was calling for Salah at anywhere near that kind of price, so there's a lot of teams that have missed out on the great play he's had this year."
Salah was voted PFA Player of the Year on Sunday by his fellow professionals and Pallotta admits the Egyptian has exceeded his expectations since joining Liverpool.
When asked if he has been surprised by Salah's improvement this season, Pallotta said: "Honestly, yes.
"And the reason is probably because look, we utilised him differently than Liverpool have. They figured out the best way to utilise him."
Pallotta added: "Where I'm surprised, is how great he's finishing. I think he would say that in Rome, while he had a bunch of goals, his frustration was not finishing the same way and now you get the ball near his feet and it just seems like he's figured a way to put it in the net.
"Do they have bigger nets in the Premier League? It's just been amazing watching him and every time he scores I'm like, "Oh dear God!"
