What will happen to Mo Salah after his well-documented rant at his situation at Liverpool?
It has been a turbulent few days for Liverpool after their dramatic 3-3 draw at Leeds United was followed by an even more shocking outburst from benched Egyptian superstar Mo Salah after the game.
After sitting on the bench for the third game in a row, and not making it onto the pitch at any point during the draw at Elland Road, Salah made a rare stop to speak with the press following the game and what he had to say has raised huge questions about his future at Liverpool.
Slot claimed that he had been “thrown under the bus” by being benched for the last three games and hinted that someone wanted him out of the club and also wanted to blame him solely for Liverpool’s shocking demise this season.
He also claimed that his previously good relationship with manager Arne Slot had broken down and that he now had no relationship with the Liverpool manager.
To finish he stated that he had asked his parents to attend Anfield for the game with Brighton at the weekend as following that game, Salah heads off to join up with his Egypt team mates for the African Cup of Nations. However, the meaning was not lost on listening Liverpool fans, who felt that Salah was effectively signalling the end of his time at the club, when he mentioned saying goodbye to the fans whether he played in the game or not.
It was a sensational outburst that stunned the football world and one that left Liverpool boss Arne Slot, and the owners Fenway Sports Group in an almost impossible position.
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Salah trained with Liverpool on both Sunday and Monday morning ahead of Tuesday night’s clash in the Champions League against Inter Milan in Italy.
However, there was no surprise that manager Arne Slot announced that Salah would not be selected to make the trip to Italy and would be left behind on Merseyside for the game.
Slot’s reasoning seeming to be that while he accepted Salah had the right to feel aggrieved at being benched, he did not have the right to make his feelings known to the press.
Later on Monday night, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher lambasted the Egyptian winger calling his actions “a disgrace”. He claimed Salah’s reaction, far from an outburst of emotion, was a calculated move to make Liverpool’s hierarchy look like the villains and Salah the innocent party.
With Salah not making the trip to Italy, the Egyptian superstar will have a couple of days to reflect on his actions ahead of the game with Brighton at the weekend – and it is not known if Arne Slot will decide to pick the Egyptian for that game.
It will also be interesting to see how Anfield reacts to what the Egyptian international has done. Will the fans support Mo, or will the majority be on the side of Arne Slot?
In either case, in a time when Liverpool are struggling for form, it is an added unwelcome distraction for the manager and the team in what is a crucial period of the season for the Reds.
Is Salah right to feel aggrieved at his treatment by Arne Slot? Let’s first contextualise his performances by looking at his stats for Liverpool.
League Appearances – 301
League Goals – 188
Champions League Appearances – 89
Champions League Goals – 51
FA Cup & League Cup Appearances – 23
FA Cup & League Cup Goals – 10
Other Appearances – 7
Other Goals – 1
Total Apps – 420
Total Goals – 250
Trophies Won – Premier League x 2, Champions League, FA Cup, Football League Cup, Community Shield, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup
3 x PFA Player of the Year
3 x Football Writers Association Player of the Year
4 x Premier League Golden Boot
2 x Premier League Player of the Season
1x Puskas award
Egypt Caps – 109
Egypt Goals – 63
Only fifth ever Liverpool player to score 200 goals for the club.
Third on the list of Liverpool leading goalscorers on 250 goals behind Ian Rush (346) and Roger Hunt (285).
Fourth on the list of top Premier League goalscorers of all time behind Alan Shearer (260), Harry Kane (213) and Wayne Rooney (208).
Salah’s outburst has led to speculation, increasing since his omission from the Liverpool squad that travelled to Italy to take on Inter Milan, that he may well leave the club in the January transfer window.
Some of the top potential destinations for Salah include Saudi Arabia,m with five Saudi Pro League clubs amongst the ten most likely destinations for Salah.
Teams linked with a move for the Egyptian include:
However, Salah staying with Liverpool beyond the transfer deadline on the 1st February 2026 is the favourite option for punters, if not for the player himself.
More outside options for those seeking a truly sensational move include Chelsea, Real Madrid, Arsenal and Manchester United.
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Salah’s outburst may have been an attempt to push blame onto manager Arne Slot and garner support from Liverpool fans, but in many respects, that has backfired on the Egyptian.
A number of former Liverpool stars, including Michael Owen, Danny Murphy and notably Jamie Carragher on Monday Night Football, have lambasted Salah, calling his outburst misguided and at worst, a ‘disgrace’.
However, those feelings have been echoed by many non-affiliated football pundits who have also expressed their feeling that Salah acted purely out of selfishness and was simply attempting to force the Liverpool board to decide between the manager and himself.
Do Salah’s arguments stand up to scrutiny? Let’s take a closer look.
In the three games Salah has been on the bench, Liverpool have not been beaten. Admittedly, they have won just one of those games and drawn the other two.
However in the nine games prior to that, in which Salah had started, Liverpool had lost seven of those games.
Additionally, Salah is not the only big name player to be relegated to the substitutes bench this season by Arne Slot. Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike, three big summer signings have also spent time out of the team on the bench after struggling for form.
Carlos Mac Allister, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong are others who have also been in and out of the team due to form, fitness, injuries or similar.
However, Salah may have one genuine complaint in that certain players have not been dropped, despite their form being markedly poorer than Salah.
Ibrahim Konate is a prime example of this with the Frenchman’s form this season being dismal, yet he has remained an automatic choice alongside Virgil van Dijk, another who is under-performing, at the heart of the Liverpool defence.
One key difference though is while Liverpool have options in the attacking roles, their options in central defence are much more limited.
Summer signing Leoni is out for the season with injury, Joe Gomez has been injured for a large part of the campaign and when fit has tended to be a substitute. Ryan Gravenberch has played centre back, but is generally felt to be more effective as a defensive midfielder.
It is abundantly clear that Salah isn’t fully to blame for Liverpool’s issues. But by the same token, he isn’t the only player to be benched for a lack of performance on the pitch.
Salah also claimed the club had broken promises made to him in the summer when he had signed his new 2-year contract with the club.
This seems to refer to Salah’s wish to score over 200 Premier League goals and it seems that those promises were the club would give him every chance to do so, ostensibly by putting him in the team each week.
That would then make sense of Salah’s broken promises claim.
However, no player has the innate right to a place in the team if they are not performing well. Salah’s performances this season, like many of Liverpool’s players, have been well below his usual standards. Not just in terms of goals scored and created, but in terms of other performance metrics too.
Arne Slot, as manager, also has the right to make any changes to the team as he sees fit, regardless of what promises have been made to Salah.
In terms of broken promises, this is less about that and seemingly more about Salah’s ego taking a hit because he is not an automatic name on the team sheet each week.
This is perhaps the most astonishing of Salah’s claims, the fact that someone higher up in the club wants him out. Combine this with the fact he said he has no relationship with manager Slot any longer and it is simple to make the connection that Salah believes Slot wants him out of the club.
That would be a strange change of circumstance from last summer when Salah’s superb season had laid the foundation for Liverpool’s league title success.
This comment makes it clear that Slot and Salah now no longer see eye to eye. If that had been kept in house, it may have been an issue that could have been resolved away from the glare of the media.
By going public Salah has effectively ensured that either one, or both of them will be forced out of the club and likely sooner rather than later.
And the Liverpool’s board and hierarchy’s support of Slot’s decision to omit Salah from their trip to Milan has made it clear on whose side the owners are on.
In publicly burning his bridges with Arne Slot and Liverpool, Salah has ensured that there will only be one of three possible outcomes to this situation.
This may be the solution Liverpool fans most want, but it is also the least likely to happen. Salah’s ego makes this an extremely unlikely scenario at present. Plus there will be a certain section of fans of the club who will feel that Salah can no longer be trusted.
There were rumours Slot was under pressure a few weeks back and this spat with Salah has intensified those rumours. However, he retains the backing of the board based on their comments following Salah’s omission from the squad for the Inter Milan clash.
If the board back slot, then that makes Salah’s position at Liverpool untenable. As such, the Egyptian will likely seek a move in January and there are plenty of suitors, especially from the Saudi Pro League. Liverpool would also benefit from getting a fee for a player now, rather than letting him leave on a free in 18 months time.
At present, the third option looks by far the most likely, which will see a sorry end to a legend’s career at Anfield.
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