I think you'd have to have had amazing foresight to predict that Salah would turn into this elite, world class superstar. He was a meek little 21 year old playing under Moruinho, who would have affected his development negatively had he chosen to stay with us. I do not think Salah would have developed the way he has if he hadn't left us.
De Bruyne, on the hand, it kills me to watch him be this superstar, because we all know if he was going to turn into this player. He performed brilliantly in Germany, and he was amazing for us in the preseason, and then started the season brightly (check out this assist for the opening goal of the season
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he was shipped off to Germany) 4 months later, and he is now, on his day, the best player in the league.
Mourinho sold off Mata and KDB because he wanted Oscar as his number 10, who was never as good as either of them, and was sold to China 2 years later.
I was dreading to see how we would handle Christsensen this season, as if we didn't treat him well, he could easily end up at City or United via some team in Germany or Spain within 18 months. Thankfully, he has been given chances, and he has grabbed them by become one of our most important players.