Dejan Lovren Defends Mohamed Salah Amid Criticism

Dejan Lovren has launched a fierce defence of Mohamed Salah, accusing pundits, club leadership and former manager Arne Slot of helping to drive Liverpool’s record Premier League goalscorer out of Anfield.

For Lovren, the criticism that followed Salah’s dip in form after a stellar 2024-25 campaign was never just about football. It was personal – and, in his words, “disgusting”.

“Disgusting” treatment of a Liverpool legend

Speaking candidly to WinWin, the Croatian, one of Salah’s closest friends in the game, said he could not believe how quickly the narrative turned on a player who has carried Liverpool for nearly a decade.

"The way they treated him this season is not harsh," Lovren said. "It's disgusting. Why didn't they talk about him like this for the past eight or nine years? Tell me... OK, one season, and then he's the target again. There are so many other issues."

Salah’s output dipped, the goals slowed, and suddenly the man who defined an era at Anfield became a lightning rod for blame. Lovren’s frustration lies in that shift: nine seasons of elite numbers, one difficult campaign, and the conversation, he feels, went from analysis to character assassination.

Lovren vs Carragher

The former Liverpool centre-back saved his sharpest words for Jamie Carragher. The club legend had publicly accused Salah of selfishness, but Lovren dismissed those comments as performance rather than insight.

He suggested Carragher’s approach owed more to television than tactics, and questioned his willingness to be as direct in private as he is in the studio.

"He's being really heavily criticised," Lovren said. "Some pundits do it just to attract attention, maybe because they haven't succeeded in other areas of their lives, so now they need to perform well... especially Carragher, he says whatever he wants.

"I always said he should tell him this to his face, say all these things to Mo to his face. He'll never say that. Because I know he never will, because he never said it to me. He's talked badly about me too, but he never said that to me anyway. You know, he's just performing on TV and he gets paid for it, so he needs to perform this way."

In Lovren’s eyes, Salah became a storyline. A ratings driver. And Carragher, as he tells it, leaned into that role rather than offering the sort of criticism players can actually use.

Finger pointed at Slot

Lovren did not stop at the pundits. He went straight to the dugout.

Beyond the noise in the media, he believes one man inside the club played a decisive role in Salah’s decision to walk away from Merseyside: Arne Slot.

"I don't think it's the management (that pushed Salah to leave)," the PAOK defender said. "I think it's just one person, and I think it's just the manager. They didn't have a good relationship. Let's put it simply."

Lovren drew a stark contrast between Slot and Jurgen Klopp, under whom Salah delivered some of the greatest seasons in Liverpool’s modern history.

"With Klopp, he had a really good relationship. It wasn't always perfect, but they knew each other very well, let's say that too, and they trusted each other, they liked each other, and Mo gave everything on the pitch for Klopp, and Klopp gave him that trust. But (with Slot) it was the opposite. It's that simple, and everyone knows it because when you look at the previous eight or nine seasons, he did really well."

The suggestion is clear: where Klopp built a bond and a framework that allowed Salah to thrive, the public spat and breakdown in communication under Slot created a climate the Egyptian no longer wanted to endure.

“He never felt that support”

For Lovren, the problem ran deeper than a manager-player rift. He believes the club failed in its duty to protect its biggest star when the storm hit.

He echoed Salah’s own comments about a lack of protection, painting a picture of a dressing room where others stayed quiet while one man absorbed the criticism.

"There are other players who should also take responsibility and say, 'yes, this is my fault', but you know, some players never came forward," Lovren said. "There was mismanagement; internally, they didn't handle it well. They didn't handle it well."

He was particularly scathing about how issues were allowed to spill out.

"Even if you have some problems, you have to talk about it in the dressing room, and like I said, Mo never felt that support. He was always the front-page headline, 'Ah, it's Mohamed Salah, don't be surprised.' I mean... it's a deep-seated issue."

In Lovren’s telling, Salah became the shield, the name on every back page while others slipped under the radar. The goals dried up, the relationship with the manager fractured, the noise grew – and the club’s most consistent modern-day match-winner, he insists, was left to face it alone.

Liverpool now move into a future without the man who defined their attack for nearly a decade. Lovren’s question hangs in the air: when the next icon hits a rough season, will the club stand in front of him – or let him stand alone?