Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba says that Mohamed Salah is on the verge of transforming into a real leader. The Ivory Coast international was speaking on the occasion of the Egyptian winger being crowned as the BBC African Footballer of the Year. It is a title which has previously found its way to Drogba’s home, as he won the award in 2009. For this occasion, Drogba says that Salah has improved a lot in the last couple of years. For a brief period, the duo played together as teammates at Chelsea. However, Salah was unable to establish himself at Chelsea and went to Roma where he had a tremendous spell.
Salah has entered into a new league since the forwards move to Liverpool at the start of the season. His pace and skill have troubled every opponent in the league and Drogba has been quick to take notice of this improvement. Drogba says that Salah will be a key player at the upcoming World Cup 2018 when Egypt travel to this tournament. Since his quality is head and shoulders above any of the player in the Premier league at this moment, Salah has the potential to transform Egypt’s fortunes at the World Cup 2018, according to Drogba. The former striker, however, urged a word of caution for Egypt fans by saying that Mohamed Salah alone cannot help the nation win the World Cup.
“He can bring a lot of his leadership and his experience, that he is learning at Liverpool and with the national team [to the team in Russia]. You know for him playing in a lot of big competitions will help him to be among the best players in Europe and during the World Cup. Mo Salah on his own cannot win the World Cup but if all his team-mates are at the level the continent expects them to be, then Mo Salah can be a fantastic player and be one of the stars in this competition,” said Drogba.