Unai Emery Says He Rejected Chance to Sign Liverpool's Mohamed Salah When at PSG

Arsenal manager Unai Emery has revealed he turned down the opportunity to sign Liverpool ace Mohamed Salah when he was at the helm of Paris Saint-Germain in 2017.

Salah, 26, moved to Liverpool from AS Roma in June last year, and Emery has said he doubted at the time whether the winger was capable of making the step up to such a big club, via ESPN UK:

Emery said: 

"We spoke about the possibility to sign Salah to PSG when he was playing at Roma. We had some doubts - and then he signed for Liverpool and these doubts he has broken at Liverpool.

"The doubts were as to how he can take the performance into one big team. For example like PSG in Paris. But today I can say to you … if you are speaking about the five top players in the world, one is Salah."

Arsenal travel to Merseyside on Saturday and are hoping to hand Liverpool their first Premier League defeat of the season, with the Reds leading the Premier League table by six points as things stand.

The signs of Salah's readiness were perhaps more clear after he scored 34 goals in 83 appearances for the Giallorossi, although it's true the Parc des Princes club would have represented another climb in pedigree.

However, a return of 44 goals in 52 appearances for Liverpool during his first season at Anfield demonstrated an impact that few—if anyone—expected.

Following a slow start to the current campaign by his standards, Salah has started to recapture the kind of consistency shown last season and is once again in contention for the Premier League Golden Boot:

The Egypt international has scored 15 goals and recorded six assists in 26 appearances across all competitions; nine of those goals and five assists have come in his last 11 league appearances.

However, Arsenal will be confident of caging Salah considering he's failed to score against England's big guns so far this season. He didn't net in November's 1-1 draw against the Gunners and also missed the target against Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

Reds manager Jurgen Klopp was pleased to see his talisman bag a crucial 1-0 winner in a crucial UEFA Champions League meeting with Napoli in December, though he was out of form against PSG in their second clash, per Statman Dave:

One can't blame Emery for failing to foresee one of the most surprising spikes in form in modern football, but he and his Arsenal side will need to restrain an increasingly confident Salah at Anfield if they're to win on Saturday.