The ECHO’s Liverpool writers look ahead to what the future might possibly hold for Mohamed Salah on the other side of the Africa Cup of Nations
A tumultuous week in the Liverpool career of Mohamed Salah at least appears to have ended on a happy note.
After his pipebomb interview in the bowels of Leeds United’s Elland Road, where he claimed he was “thrown under the bus” by the club and stated his relationship with Arne Slot had broken down, Salah was left at home to reflect on his words as Liverpool flew to Milan for the Champions League clash with Inter without him.
After a vitally important 1-0 win over the Italians, thanks to Dominik Szoboszlai’s late penalty, Salah held clear-the-air talks with Slot on Friday when the Reds reconvened before Saturday’s visit from Brighton & Hove Albion.
The outcome of those discussions with Slot saw Salah reinstated for Saturday’s game and he was bright and inventive in his cameo at Anfield before he was serenaded by the Kop at full time of the 2-0 win.
If a week is a long time in politics, it has felt like an eternity for those glued to the last developments over Salah’s Liverpool status. But is that to be the end of it? Or will the Egypt international’s participation at the Africa Cup of Nations only provide a short respite before another storm?
Here, the ECHO’s Liverpool writers have their say and try to analyse the situation.
Paul Gorst
Were they tears in the eyes of Mohamed Salah as he made his way across the Anfield turf on Saturday afternoon? Or was it simply the Merseyside wind whipping in at around 5pm on Saturday evening? It’s hard to say at this stage but one thing Arne Slot made clear is that he considers this matter now closed.
“For me there is no issue to resolve,” Slot said. “For me, he is the same as any other player. You talk to your players if you are happy or unhappy with things but there is nothing for me to talk about after what happened against Leeds after the game.
“The reason he wasn’t in Milan was his interview. Everybody has a different opinion about that, should he be once, twice, three times, four times, four months, 12 years. Every manager makes different decisions about that.
“He wasn’t involved in the game against Milan and I spoke to him yesterday. As I usually never say anything about what we talk about, I am not going to make an exception now.”
To take Slot at face value – and judging by the beaming Salah smile as he mischievously came through Anfield’s mixed zone after the game – all’s well that ends well.
Having said that, however, the last five games – of which Salah has started none – have shown that an unbeaten Liverpool can get results without their Egyptian talisman, so quite how a 33-year-old superstar accepts that he might not be automatically first choice will be key to what happens next.
Of course, few players are left out when they are performing, so the simple solution, some might say, to Salah’s predicament is to get firing once more and you cannot say it wasn’t for a lack of trying on Saturday afternoon for a player who claimed his 277th goal involvement for the Reds with his corner assist for Hugo Ekitike.
If Salah can adapt to the fact that he is no longer untouchable at Anfield then he still has a chance to make a success of time going forward. If not, however, then we may still have some twists and turns ahead of us when it comes to the future of the ‘Egyptian King’.
Mark Jones
Don’t do it, Mo. However tempting it may be just don’t do it.
There are few footballers who appear to know the weight of their words better than Mohamed Salah, but when reporters at the Africa Cup of Nations thrust their microphones in front of him in Morocco and try and tempt him into a few headline grabbing utterances about his club future, the Egypt superstar would be better off keeping quiet.
Having waved Salah off to the tournament after his impressive showing against Brighton, the last thing the Reds need is more fuel to the fire that he caused at Elland Road. And of course, if he were to vent his fury again in Morocco then Arne Slot would have no immediate way to respond, as he did when dropping Salah for the trip to Milan.
As it stands the whole episode has shown the Liverpool boss in a good light. He has been strong in conflict with his most high-profile player, and Salah has responded by delivering a team-player performance at the weekend.
Isn’t this just kicking a can down the road though? Very much so, but at a time when Liverpool are presented with some decent fixtures up to and just after the new year, this is a moment to focus and continue to try and drag this season back onto the rails.
The Salah situation can wait until he’s back, when he should be seen as an important player in a squad looking to kick on and recover from their poor start to the campaign.
Salah can still have a big role to play in the second half of the season, if he wants to play it.
