Mohamed Salah breaks silence after Leeds draw: ‘Liverpool have thrown me under the bus’ as ‘someone doesn’t want me in the club’

“I’m very, very disappointed. I have done so much for this club down the years and especially last season,” said Salah, who is the third-highest scorer in Liverpool’s history with 250 goals in 420 appearances.

“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 promises. 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.

Mohamed Salah (c) on the bench

Image credit: Getty Images

“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.

Salah joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017 and was a key player in the club’s success under Jurgen Klopp and in last season’s Premier League triumph under Slot.

“It is not acceptable for me,” he added. “I don’t know why this is happening to me. I don’t get it. I think if this was somewhere else, every club would protect its player.

“How I see it now is you throw Mo under the bus because he is the problem in the team now. But I don’t think I am the problem. I have done so much for this club.

“The respect, I want to get. I don’t have to go every day fighting for my position because I earned it. I am not bigger than anyone but I earned my position. It’s football. It is what it is.

“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.

“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 10 games, 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!”

Asked whether he regrets signing a new contract in the summer, Salah said: “Imagine how bad that I have to answer it, honestly. 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.”

On his relationship with Slot, Salah said: “There’s no relationship between us. It was a very good relationship and now all of a sudden there is no relationship.”

Slot: Salah’s short-term future is AFCON

Salah finished fourth in the 2025 Ballon d’Or voting after scoring 34 goals and assisting 23 last season.

But his form has slumped in Slot’s second campaign in charge.

He has recorded only four goals and three assists in 19 games while also struggling to contribute defensively and missing the creative pipeline of Trent Alexander-Arnold behind him on the right flank.

Slot defended his decision not to introduce Salah from the bench against Leeds by pointing out he made all of his changes when Liverpool were winning, so it didn’t make sense to bring on a goalscorer at that stage.

However, Slot subbed on Alexander Isak in his final pair of changes after Dominik Szoboszlai put the Reds 3-2 ahead, while also withdrawing Cody Gakpo for Wataru Endo.

“It was more about controlling the game and we didn’t need a goal,” said Slot. “Normally when you need a goal, like last week against Sunderland, I brought Mo on.”

“Like I said before the game, we have to accept the situation we are in, and I make my choices based on that,” Slot added, when asked about Salah’s short and medium-term future at Anfield.

“And the short-term future of Mo is that he goes in a week’s time to the African Cup of Nations, but before that, we play Inter and Brighton.”

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