Liverpool are going through turbulent times. Nothing new at a club accustomed to navigating between epic and chaos, but what is happening with Mohamed Salah is not just another episode: it is a fracture that threatens the emotional and sporting heart of the team.
The idol who changed the recent history of the Reds – 250 goals, titles, eternal nights and an almost religious connection with Anfield – has suddenly become a problem that Arne Slot does not know if he can, or wants, to sustain.
The Best FIFA 2025: Meet the star-players nominated this year
Now I’m on the bench and I don’t know why. It seems that the club uses me as an excuse
The trigger came in the form of substitutions. Three consecutive games without being in the starting eleven, not a minute against Leeds, and a subsequent outburst by the Egyptian in the mixed zone that rumbled like thunder over the Mersey.
“I am very disappointed. I have done a lot for this club in recent years and especially last season. Now I am on the bench and I don’t know why. It seems that the club is using me as an excuse. That’s how I feel. It’s clear that someone wants to use me to take all the blame. I was made a lot of promises in the summer and now I’m on the bench for three games in a row. I’ve said many times that I had a good relationship with the coach and now I don’t have any. I don’t know why, but it seems to me that someone doesn’t want me at the club,” said the striker.
Salah, injured, hinted that he no longer feels loved, that someone wants to make him a scapegoat and, what most set alarm bells ringing, that he may not return after playing in the Africa Cup of Nations. It was a message that, at Liverpool, sounded like an early farewell and a direct challenge to the manager.
Slot, newly landed in a dugout that does not forgive doubts, reacted forcefully. No half measures or hot cloths: Salah did not travel to Milan for the Champions League clash against Inter. There is no injury. There is no official punishment. There is a technical decision that is, in reality, a blow on the table. “My reaction is clear: he is not here with us tonight,” said the Dutchman. When asked if the ’11’ had played his last game in red, he uttered a phrase that chilled the whole club: “I have no idea.” Anfield understood the message. Slot has positioned himself. No one is above the group. Not even Salah.
A divorce without intermediaries
The most worrying thing is the lack of communication. The coach himself admitted it bluntly: “We informed him that he would not be travelling. That has been the only communication we have had with him”. A cold break, with no intermediate corridors or explanations to serve as a bridge. On one side, a footballer who feels betrayed after years of goalscoring loyalty. On the other, a coach convinced that the team needs new rules, new roles and fewer untouchable hierarchies.
“We informed him that he would not be traveling. That has been the only communication we have had with him
The fracture does not stop there. Jamie Carragher, an authoritative voice of Liverpool and a mirror of the fans, launched an unrestrained attack on Sky Sports. For the former defender, Salah chose a moment of weakness to attack the club and force a favorable scenario. “I thought it was embarrassing,” he said. He even hinted that the Egyptian is looking to provoke Slot’s dismissal, something that in England is already repeated as an uncomfortable shadow. Even Xabi Alonso, formerly of Liverpool, got involved in a press conference on the subject.
I found it embarrassing
Full stop or period?
The board does not want to give away its star. It renewed his contract a few months ago, raised his salary and guaranteed him a central role until 2027. But the sporting deterioration – Liverpool is 10th in the Premier League and suffering an identity crisis – has changed priorities. And the Pharaoh’s statements have ignited a powder keg that is impossible to ignore.
The situation leaves a question hanging over Anfield: can Salah live with a coach who no longer considers him indispensable? Will Slot have the scope to sustain open warfare with the biggest figure in the dressing room? The clock is ticking, the Africa Cup of Nations is approaching and the winter transfer window looms as a tempting yet dangerous escape route.
The club has already conveyed its position: no one is eternal and no footballer, no matter how legendary, can live outside the collective rules. Salah, accustomed to the universe revolving around his left foot, is now faced with a decision that will mark the end of his story in England. He can redirect it. Or he can burn what’s left of the bridge. On Radio MARCA’s La Tribu they were already saying on Tuesday that his future could be in Saudi Arabia. Other rumors place him in the United States.
What is clear is that Anfield had not seen anything like it for some time. Slot has touched the totem. Salah has responded with fire. And Liverpool, caught between its glorious past and a present full of doubts, is waiting for a resolution that could change everything. In December 2025, the myth is in question. And the end, for the first time since that “guy who failed at Chelsea” arrived, is no longer written by his goals. It is dictated by a battle of egos, silences and decisions that no fan expected to experience.
