Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has refuted claims he mismanaged Mohamed Salah during their time together at Chelsea, saying he "fell in love" with him when he played for Basel and he didn't push the Blues hierarchy to sell him.

Mourinho spoke to beIN Sports (h/t Goal) and discussed the Salah situation, saying the reason he didn't succeed at Stamford Bridge was his lack of patience and his struggles to adapt to a new environment:

"For a start people try to identify me as the coach that sold Salah. I am the coach that bought Salah. It’s completely the wrong idea.

"I played against Basel in the Champions League. Salah was a kid at Basel. When I play against a certain team I analyse a team and players for quite a long time.

"And I fell in love with that kid. I bought the kid.

"I pushed the club to buy him and at the time we already had fantastic attacking players—Hazard, Willian, we had top talent there. But I told them to buy that kid. He was more a winger coming inside than a striker.

"He was just a lost kid in London. He was a lost kid in a new world.

"We wanted to work him, to become better and better and better. But he was more of the idea of wanting to play and not wait.

"So we decided to put him on loan, in a culture I knew well. Italy. Tactical football. Physical football. A good place to play."

He went on to add the Blues made the decision to sell Salah, not him.

Here's video footage of the interview:

The Egypt international joined Chelsea in 2014 after two excellent seasons with Basel. Like many talented players before him―including Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku―he didn't see enough playing time and departed on loan for Fiorentina in 2015.

As Squawka Football shared, Mourinho gave him just six starts:

In Florence, Salah regained his best form, leading to a second loan and eventual sale to AS Roma. With the Giallorossi, the now 26-year-old finally blossomed to his full potential, becoming one of the world's best forwards.

He returned to England to join Liverpool in 2017, and in his first season broke the Premier League's single-season record for goals.

He played a key role in the Reds' run to the UEFA Champions League final, but an unfortunate injury saw him substituted early and ruined his preparations for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Mourinho himself departed Chelsea in 2015 and ended up at Manchester United, where his run of winning the title in his second season in charge came to an end.

He left Old Trafford in December after a poor start to the season but intends to keep on coaching at the highest level:

The Red Devils are unbeaten under interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Meanwhile, Salah and Liverpool sit at the top of the Premier League standings.