Montella: Hard to keep Salah

Mohamed Salah appears unlikely to stay at Fiorentina beyond the end of the season.

Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Montella admits keeping Mohamed Salah at the club beyond the end of his loan will be tough.

On loan at the Serie A club from Chelsea, Salah scored in the second half of his side’s 2-0 win over Tottenham in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday.

The victory at the Stadio Artemio Franchi completed a 3-1 aggregate victory for Fiorentina.

But Montella believes Chelsea still want the 22-year-old Egypt international, whose loan expires at season’s end.

“Given how much [Chelsea] are asking for him, I think they have high hopes in him,” the coach said.

Mario Gomez’s goal had put Fiorentina ahead before Salah gave his side completed control.

Montella lauded his team for their performance, but he is quickly turning his focus to Sunday’s league clash at Inter.

“What does this win mean? We’re very happy with it, the lads and the fans all deserve huge credit,” he said.

“We don’t have much time to celebrate though because we have another crunch match coming up on Sunday.”

Speaking of Inter, Montella said it was a team he wanted to avoid drawing in the round of 16.

“Inter and the next round? I hope we don’t get drawn against an Italian side,” he said.

“Inter are in great form at the moment and they’re brimming with confidence.”