Roma chairman James Pallotta has admitted that Liverpool got an "unbelievable bargain" when signing Mohamed Salah for £34m last summer.
The Egyptian forward has netted 41 goals in all competitions during his maiden campaign at Anfield, leaving him hot on the heels of Ian Rush's long-standing club-record tally in a single season.
Salah will come up against his former side on Tuesday night when Roma travel to Merseyside for the first leg of an intriguing Champions League semi-final tie, and Pallotta confesses that he has been left shocked by the 25-year-old's success in front of goal over the past eight months.
Asked if he has been surprised by Salah's development, Pallotta told ESPN: "Honestly, yes. And the reason is probably because look, we utilised him differently than Liverpool have. They figured out the best way to utilise him. Where I'm surprised, is how great he's finishing.
"I think he would say that in Rome, while he had a bunch of goals, his frustration was not finishing the same way and now you get the ball near his feet and it just seems like he's figured a way to put it in the net. Do they have bigger nets in the Premier League? It's just been amazing watching him and every time he scores I'm like, 'Oh dear God!'
"When you look at it now, you can say it's an unbelievable bargain. The issue at the time was that when [director of football] Monchi came in, Salah wanted to leave, he had a year left on his contract so in another year you'd get nothing. He wanted to go back [to the Premier League] and prove himself, which he certainly has done.
"We can't tell you that anybody else was calling for Salah at anywhere near that kind of price, so there's a lot of teams that have missed out on the great play he's had this year."
Eight of Salah's goals this season have come in the Champions League, leaving him behind only Cristiano Ronaldo (15) in the scoring charts.
Daniel Lewis
