Arne Slot Discusses Mohamed Salah's Future at Liverpool
Arne Slot is refusing to say whether Mohamed Salah will be given a Liverpool farewell on the pitch at Anfield on Sunday – and he is just as determined not to be drawn into a public power struggle with his departing star.
Salah, who will leave the club this summer after nine years and a stack of goals, ignited a storm last weekend with a social media post calling for Liverpool to change their style of play. It read like a direct swipe at the football being played under Slot. The timing, on the eve of a decisive run-in, could hardly have been more pointed.
Now comes the final league game against Brentford, with Liverpool needing only a point to secure Champions League qualification. It could be Salah’s last appearance in red on this ground. Slot will not bite.
“I never say anything about team selection,” he said when asked outright if Salah would feature. The answer was short, the message clear: no farewell guarantees, no sentiment ahead of a vital 90 minutes.
Champions League first, emotions later
This is not the first time tension between the pair has spilled into view. Earlier in the season, Salah, now 33, was left out of the squad for a Champions League trip to Inter Milan after telling an interviewer that his relationship with Slot had broken down. A star player frozen out on a European night – it was a flashpoint that never truly faded.
So when Salah went public again with criticism of Liverpool’s style, the focus swung straight back to the manager. Slot, though, refused to frame it as personal.
“I don’t think it is that important what I feel about it,” he said. “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 frustration from the dugout is not about one post, one player, or even one relationship. Slot is still stung by the missed chance at Villa, where defeat meant Liverpool failed to wrap up Champions League football with a game to spare.
“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 prism through which he wants everything – even Salah’s parting shots – to be viewed.
Shared ambition, different visions
Strip away the noise and Slot insists there is a basic alignment.
“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.
Where the tension lies is in how Liverpool get there. Slot did not hide his own dissatisfaction with large chunks of this campaign.
“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.”
That is a striking admission from a title-winning coach. It also hints at a summer of significant change – one that may well unfold without Salah.
“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.”
The last line lands heavily. Slot did not confirm Salah’s exit, but he did not dance around it either. “If he’s somewhere else” sounds less like a hypothetical and more like a reality being quietly prepared for.
Authority questioned, identity debated
Salah’s post spoke of Liverpool needing to recover their identity. The implication was obvious: the current version does not look or feel like the Liverpool he once led to glory. Asked whether that undermined his authority, Slot bristled at the framing.
“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,” he replied.
“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 reminded everyone of the recent high point, when Salah, Slot and the rest of the squad dragged the league title back to Anfield after five years.
“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.”
Slot’s argument is simple: the core ambition has not changed, but the game around them has. If Liverpool are to chase titles again, he believes they must adapt, even if that means breaking with some of the habits that made them champions.
Social media noise, training ground reality
The ripple effect of Salah’s post did not stop with him. Other Liverpool players liked and commented on it, a very modern form of dressing-room subtext. Did that bother the manager? Slot, born into a pre-smartphone football world, downplayed the significance.
“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.”
For Slot, the training ground remains the only true barometer of commitment. The rest, he suggests, is noise.
On Sunday, the noise will be deafening. Anfield will watch a team fighting for Champions League football, a manager talking openly about evolution, and a club legend who may or may not be given one last chance to shape the story on the pitch.
If this is the end of Salah’s Liverpool chapter at Anfield, it will not be wrapped in sentiment from the dugout. Slot has made his priority clear: secure Europe, then reshape everything – even if that future is written without his greatest goalscorer.
