Mohamed Salah says goodbye: ‘I have no relationship with Arne Slot’Marginalised Liverpool legend believes club has thrown him under the bus and warns he may not return to Merseyside after upcoming Africa Cup of Nations
Mohamed Salah has accused Liverpool of “throwing him under the bus” and said his relationship with the club’s head coach Arne Slot is over in an incendiary interview.
Salah said he would say “goodbye” to Liverpool supporters at next Saturday’s Premier League game with Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield, after which he will report to Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations camp, because he no longer knows if he has a future at the club.
The 33-year-old spoke out after being an unused substitute in the club’s 3-3 draw with Leeds United on Saturday night, the third game in a row in which he had not been in Slot’s starting line-up.
Salah said he used to have a good relationship with Slot — who led Liverpool to the Premier League title last season, with the Egypt forward as his star player — but that had collapsed and he claimed that “someone does not want me in the club”. He added that Liverpool had broken promises made to him when he signed a new two-year contract worth about £400,000 a week at the end of last season.
During a post-match interview that lasted more than seven minutes Salah said in what appeared to be pre-meditated comments: “I’m very, very disappointed. I have done so much for this club down the years and especially last season.
“Now I’m sitting on the bench and I don’t know why. It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That is how I am feeling. I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame.
“I got a lot of promises in the summer and so far I am on the bench for three games, so I can’t say they keep the promise. I said many times before that I had a good relationship with the manager and all of a sudden we don’t have any relationship. I don’t know why, but it seems to me, how I see it, that someone doesn’t want me in the club.
Salah said he no longer has a relationship with Slot but does not know why
“This club, I always support it. My kids will always support it. I love the club so much, I will always do. I called my mum yesterday — you guys didn’t know if I would start or not, but I knew.
“Yesterday I said to [my parents], ‘Come to the Brighton game.’ I don’t know if I am going to play or not but I am going to enjoy it. In my head, I’m going to enjoy that game because I don’t know what is going to happen now. I will be at Anfield to say goodbye to the fans and go to the Africa cup. I don’t know what is going to happen when I am there.”
At a time when Liverpool’s defence of their league title has been undermined by a run of two wins and two draws in ten league matches, Salah’s comments will heap further scrutiny on Slot.
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Salah said he had been informed by Slot on Friday that he would again be on the substitutes’ bench after being dropped last Sunday against West Ham United and then left out of the starting line-up for the midweek draw with Sunderland. It now seems inconceivable that he will be involved in Liverpool’s Champions League trip to Inter Milan on Tuesday.
Salah said that more talks with Slot were unnecessary at this point. “No, I don’t think so, we spoke a lot,” he said. “There’s no relationship between us. It was a very good relationship and now all of a sudden there is no relationship. He told me yesterday [I was not starting] and I had a meeting with him. He knows my feeling. He knows my feeling.”
Salah rarely speaks to the media, though during last season’s protracted talks on a new contract he occasionally used post-match interviews to declare he was unhappy about the lack of progress on his deal.
That contract is due to expire in 2027, but Salah said he did not regret signing it. “Imagine how bad [it is] that I have to answer it, honestly,” he said. “That hurts, even the question hurts. This club, signing for this club, I will never regret it.
“I thought I’m going to renew here and end my career here, but this is not according to the plan, so I’m not regretting signing for the club for sure.
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English Premier League - Liverpool vs Tottenham
Salah has won two Premier League titles and the Champions League with Liverpool
“Somehow it will end but the thing in my head is like, ‘Why should it end this way?’ Because I am too fit, just five months ago I was just winning every individual award so why should it go in this direction? I’m sorry, everybody in a team is not in this form, yet I’m the one who has to defend himself now.”
Asked if he felt let down by his team-mates, Salah added: “No, no, no, these guys, they know how much I love them. They know how much I support them, even inside before the game, after the game.
“I’m an experienced player, I’ve been in their position. I always support them, I always give them experience. But no, no, the players, they’re not connected to the situation. Even they support me so much, so there’s just much love between us as players and respect.”
There will be interest from the Saudi Pro League in Salah, who was asked if he had played his last game for Liverpool after eight years in which he has won two league titles and the Champions League. He has scored 250 goals and is third on the club’s all-time scoring list behind Ian Rush and Roger Hunt.
“In football you never know,” he said. “I don’t accept this situation. I have done so much for this club. “I don’t want to answer this question [about Saudi], because the club is going to take me to a different direction.
“After what I have done for the club, it really hurts. You can imagine, really. After going from home to the club and you don’t know if you are starting. I know the club too well, I have been here many years. Tomorrow [Jamie] Carragher [the former Liverpool defender and Sky Sports pundit] is going to go for me again and again and that’s fine.
“I have been at this club, scoring more than anyone in this generation since I came to the Premier League, I don’t think anyone has scored more goals and made more assists than me. In the whole Premier League. If I am somewhere else, everybody would go to the media and defend the players. I am the only one in this situation.
“Can I give an example? It’s silly but I am sorry. I remember a while ago, Harry Kane was not scoring for ten games, [and] everyone in the media was like, ‘Oh, Harry will score for sure.’ When it comes to Mo, everyone is like, ‘He needs to be on the bench.’ I am sorry, Harry!”
https://www.thetimes.com/(...)ot-goodbye-8qv79d653