Mohamed Salah's Future at Liverpool: Arne Slot's Stance
Arne Slot is refusing to offer Anfield a farewell script for Mohamed Salah.
On Sunday, Liverpool need just a point against Brentford to seal a return to the Champions League. They may also be staging the final act of one of the club’s greatest modern careers. Slot is not prepared to confirm either way.
“I never say anything about team selection,” he said when pressed on whether Salah would feature in what could be his last Liverpool appearance.
The question carried more weight than usual. Last weekend, Salah used social media to call for Liverpool to change their style of play, a message widely read as a swipe at Slot’s football. It landed just days before a decisive league fixture and only weeks before the 33-year-old forward is expected to leave Anfield after nine years.
Slot, though, batted away any invitation to make it personal.
“I don’t think it is that important what I feel about it,” he said of Salah’s comments. “What is important is that we qualify for the Champions League on Sunday and I prepare Mo and the whole team in the best possible way for the game.”
The stakes are clear. Liverpool’s defeat at Villa left them short of the finish line and left Slot seething.
“I was very disappointed after our loss against Villa because a win would have given us qualification for the Champions League which we didn’t get. Now there’s one game to go which is a vital one for us as a club.”
That is the backdrop to the tension around Salah. This is not the first time a public remark has had consequences. Earlier this season, he was left out of the squad for a Champions League trip to Inter Milan after saying in an interview that his relationship with Slot had broken down.
The pattern suggests a rift. Slot insists the shared objective remains intact.
“We both want what’s best for the club, we both want the club to be successful and that’s the main aim,” he said.
But he also made it clear Liverpool are entering a phase of change on his terms.
“I have to find a way to evolve this team now and definitely in the summer and in the upcoming season to be successful again, and to play a brand of football that I like. And if I like it then the fans will like it as well because I haven’t liked a lot of the way we played this season.
“But we try to evolve the team in a way that we can compete but definitely also play the brand of football, the style of football the fans, I, and hopefully Mo if he’s somewhere else at that moment in time will like as well.”
That last line hung in the air. Slot did not close the door on Salah staying, but he did not exactly slam shut the growing sense of an ending either.
The Dutchman bristled when it was put to him that Salah’s call for Liverpool to “recover their identity” amounted to a challenge to his authority and his style.
“You are doing a lot of assumptions. First of all you say that he wants to play that style and then say it is not my style,” Slot replied.
He pointed back to last season’s title as proof that player and manager have, at least at times, been aligned.
“I think Mo was really happy with the style we played last year as it lead to us winning the league. Football has changed, football has evolved, but we both want what is best for Liverpool and that is for us to compete for trophies, which we haven’t done this season and which we did last season.
“He and the team – and I was included in that – brought the league title back after five years and we would like to challenge for that again next season and continue to evolve the team. That is my take on it.”
If Salah’s words hinted at a dressing room debate over direction, the reaction online only fuelled the story. Several Liverpool players liked or interacted with the post, a modern twist that could be read as subtle backing for their team-mate.
Slot refused to be drawn into that world.
“Social media came when I was a little bit older, so as people know I’m not really involved. I don’t really know what it exactly means if you ‘like’ a post,” he said.
“What I know, and that is my world, is to see how they train and I have not seen anything different compared to the rest of the season.”
So Liverpool head into Sunday with a simple equation and a complicated mood. One point secures Champions League football. One more Anfield outing for Salah would give supporters a chance to say goodbye.
Slot will not say whether that goodbye is coming. The team sheet against Brentford will do that for him.
