Wijnaldum reveals Salah's role in his Roma switch

The former Liverpool midfielder left PSG to join the Giallorossi on a loan deal.

Georginio Wijnaldum has revealed Mohamed Salah advised him to join Roma ahead of the new Serie A season.

Following an uninspiring debut season at Paris Saint-Germain, Wijnaldum joined Roma on a loan deal last week. The former Liverpool star joins Jose Mourinho’s team, hoping to rediscover his spark in Serie A.

Speaking about his decision to join the Giallorossi, Wijnaldum revealed a former teammate encouraged him to make the move.

“First of all, I wanted to come because of the effort the club put in to sign me as a player,” Wijnaldum told a news conference on Tuesday.

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“Also, I spoke with Mo Salah and Kevin Strootman about Roma, about the club and the city, and I only heard good stories about it.

“I even spoke with Achraf Hakimi about it, even though he played at Inter Milan, he said [Roma] was a beautiful club and a beautiful place and I would be happy here. So that convinced me a lot.”

Salah rose to prominence during his incredible spell at Roma between 2015 and 2016. Having scored 34 goals and provided 22 assists, the Egyptian star left the Italian capital to join Liverpool.

Wijnaldum added: “I know the club, we played them twice when I was at Liverpool [in the Champions League in 2018], and the atmosphere at the Olimpico was amazing – so I knew that I would be playing for a club with a great atmosphere and beautiful supporters.

“But that was basically the only thing I knew, so I asked for some advice from Mo and Strootman and they had good stories.”