Liverpool are in a bit of a pickle at the moment. They're essentially a shadow of what they once were for the past 8 years. They're form is in line with a relegation side. A part of this downfall is the below par performances by their star players.
One of these stars would be Mohammed Salah. He'd been putting one poor performance after another. It has all led to him being benched. It appears that he's had enough of that treatment as he gave an explosive interview after his side's shocking 3-3 draw against Leeds.
One of these stars would be Mohammed Salah. He'd been putting one poor performance after another . It has athis seasonll led to him being benched. It appears that he's had enough of that treatment as he gave an explosive interview after his side's shocking 3-3 draw against Leeds. He spent the entire match on the bench.
After the game, the scorer of 250 goals in 420 Liverpool appearances said in an extraordinary interview with journalists: "I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame. 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. 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. This club, I will always support it. My kids will always support it. I love the club so much and I always will."
"It [the situation] is not acceptable to me, to be fair. I don't get it. It's like I'm being thrown more under the bus. I don't think I'm the problem. I have done so much for this club. 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."
Salah, 33, scored 29 times in the 2024-25 Premier League as the Reds won the title in Slot's first season in charge.
However, he has struggled for form since as Liverpool have been unable to match the heights of last term. Salah, who was brought to the club from Roma by Jurgen Klopp in 2017, has scored just four times in 13 top-flight appearances this season.
The Saudi Pro League has for a long time held ambitions to add Salah - arguably the most recognisable Middle Eastern player on the planet - to a roster of global superstars that includes the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane.
Sources have indicated that Al-Hilal, managed by Simone Inzaghi, are among the teams interested in Salah.
Liverpool are said to be open-minded about Salah's future amid the Saudi interest. After the Leeds game - when Liverpool led 2-0 and then 3-2 before conceding a 96th-minute equaliser - Slot told Sky Sports why he didn't use Salah off the bench.
"It was more about controlling the game [at 3-2] and we didn't need a goal," said Slot before Salah's interview. "Normally when you need a goal, like last week against Sunderland, I brought Mo on."
Speaking at his pre-match news conference on Friday, Slot said he understood the talk surrounding Salah after being dropped from the team. "The chatter, yes, because he deserves that, he has been so influential for me and [for] six or seven years. It's completely normal people talk about it when he isn't playing," added Slot.
Salah, third on Liverpool's all-time list of scorers behind Ian Rush (346) and Roger Hunt (285), made his most recent start in the 4-1 Champions League home defeat by Dutch side, PSV Eindhoven, on 26 November.
Salah, who is going to the Africa Cup of Nations on 15 December, added that he was unsure about his Liverpool future, despite signing a new two-year contract in April.
If Mohamed Salah has played his last game for Liverpool, then the 'Egyptian king' will still go down as a Liverpool legend.
Since signing for £34m from Roma in 2017, the 33-year-old has scored 188 goals in the Premier League alone. Only Alan Shearer (260), Harry Kane (213) and Wayne Rooney (208) have more than Salah's 190 in the Premier League - he scored two for Chelsea during his time there in 2013-14.
Salah was named the PFA players' player of the year for last season after scoring 29 goals and adding 18 assists on his way to the Golden Boot and Liverpool's title.
Yet, the backdrop to that campaign was the story of his contract, with a deal he had signed in 2022 making him Liverpool's highest-paid player of all time having been set to expire in the summer of 2025.
In April, Salah signed a two-year extension, ending rumours he was going to depart on a free transfer but he has been less productive this season, scoring just five goals in 19 appearances.
After starting 53 Premier League games in a row for Liverpool, Salah was benched for the last three games by Arne Slot, with the Reds boss still describing him as a "top professional" and insisting Salah had responded like any top player would.
Yet the fact that Salah chose to stop and speak in the mixed zone to reporters at Elland Road is telling. He clearly had something to say. It's unusual for Salah to stop and it was after Liverpool beat Southampton in November last year that he came across and declared he was "probably more out than in" after revealing he had yet to be offered a new contract.
Back then, team-mates were shocked to see him seek out reporters and they will be feeling the same after his latest extraordinary remarks. "I'm very disappointed. I have done so much for this club, especially last season," he said. "It seems to me that someone doesn't want me in the club."
At Liverpool, Salah has won: the Premier League twice (2019-20 and 2024-25); the Champions League (2018-19); FA Cup (2021-22); EFL Cup (2021-22) as well as both the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2019.
On an individual note, he has won the Premier League's Golden Boot top scorer award four times, tying Thierry Henry for the record. Only Ian Rush and Roger Hunt have scored more goals for Liverpool.
Yet, unless Salah can see a way past sitting on the bench, it looks like it could be a sour end for the Premier League legend.
Next weekend, he will leave for the Africa Cup of Nations and right now, the question is whether he will return in January as a Liverpool player.
The Interview
What were you thinking sat on the bench?
"I don't know what to say. It's funny but I couldn't believe it. It is a really disappointing result for us as a team because we expect to win a game like that."
"We managed to score two goals in the beginning and the game was going in our direction but we conceded silly goals. I'm not attacking my team-mates because I was on the bench, but we conceded silly goals as we did before. We just have to try to keep a clean sheet and win games."
What couldn't you believe?
"That I'm sitting on the bench for 90 minutes! The third time on the bench, I think for the first time in my career. I'm very, very disappointed to be fair. I have done so much for this club down the years and especially last season."
"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's 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 in the bench for three games so I can't say they keep the promise."
"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."
"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."
"Yesterday I said to them, come to the Brighton game [on 13 December]. I don't know if I am going to play or not, but I am going to enjoy it. In my head, I'm going to enjoy that game because I don't know what is going to happen now."
"I will be in Anfield to say goodbye to the fans and go to Africa Cup of Nations. I don't know what is going to happen when I am there."
What do you do with the situation now?
"It is not acceptable for me. 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 like 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."
Have you played your last game for Liverpool?
"In football you never know. I don't accept this situation. I have done so much for this club."
How frustrated are you?
"With respect, I love everyone. I love [Erling] Haaland, I will talk about him. I am the current top goalscorer in the Premier League. He is not yet. He is going to win it hopefully and that is fine for him. I love him and he knows that."
"I am top goalscorer, best player, winning the league in such a style, but I am the one who has to defend himself in front of the media and fans."
Does this hurt you more?
"Absolutely. After what I have done for the club it really hurts. You can imagine, really. After going from home to the club and you don't know if you are starting. I know the club too well, I have been here many years. Tomorrow [Jamie] Carragher is going to go for me again and again and that's fine."
Saudi interest?
"I don't want to answer this question, because the club is going to take me to a different direction."
Situation impossible now to solve?
"I cannot say it is impossible, but from what I feel, I have done so much for the club, I love the fans and the club so much, but I don't know what is going to happen next."
Doubly frustrating that you didn't even come on?
"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. In the whole Premier League. If I am somewhere else, everybody would go to the media and defend the players. I am the only one in this situation."
"I remember a while go, 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!"
When you say about someone wanting you out, who?
"I don't know. I don't know. I really don't know."
Sporting director?
"No, no, don't put the words in my mouth. From the situation I see that's it."
Had anyone sort of communicated and explain the situation to you. Have you actually asked for that?
"I did. I did, but I don't see an explanation. Like I knew yesterday that I was not going to play and that's it, so take it and swallow it and go home."
Were you told personally you weren't going to be playing by Arne?
"Yeah, he told me yesterday and had a meeting with him."
Did you let your feelings be known then, you were disappointed?
"He knows my feeling. He knows my feeling."
Regret signing that contract?
"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."
You're one of the greatest players in Liverpool's history. Can you believe it might end like this?
"Somehow it will end, but the thing in my head is like why it should end this way? Because I am too fit. Just five months ago I was just winning every individual award so why should it go this direction?
"I'm sorry everybody in a team is not in his form, yet I'm the one who has to defend himself now."
Now is the next step for you to [speak with] Arne again?
"No, I don't think so. We spoke a lot."
Has the relationship broken down?
"Yeah, there's no relationship between us. It was very good relationship and now all of a sudden there is no relationship."
Something changed behind the scenes?
"You guys know better than me. I don't know."
Do you feel let down from the team-mates as well?
"No, no, no. These guys, they know how much I love them. They know how much I support them, even inside before the game, after the game.
"I'm an experienced player, I've been in their position. I always support them, I always give them experience. But no, no, the players they're not connected to the situation."
"Even they support me so much, so there's just much love between us as players and respect."
Just over a year ago, Salah shocked the footballing world when he said he was "probably more out than in" as his contract ticked towards its final six months. The former Chelsea man eventually signed a new two-year deal earlier this year but it hasn't taken long for him to be back in the headlines. Not long after Liverpool's thrilling draw at Elland Road, Salah said it is "very clear" someone wants him to "get all of the blame", that the club has "thrown him under the bus" and that this situation was unacceptable.
For the second time in three Premier League outings, Salah was an unused substitute for Liverpool, who sit eighth in the table. The defending champions are 10 points behind table-toppers Arsenal, with Arne Slot's side looking almost unrecognisable from the team that romped to the league title last term.
When asked why Salah didn't come off the bench, manager Slot said: "It was more about controlling the game at [3-2 to Liverpool] and we didn't need a goal. Normally, when you need a goal, like last week against Sunderland, I brought Mo on."
Not long after, Salah - who scored 29 goals and added 18 assists in the league last season but this campaign he has just four goals and two assists - would say he no longer had a relationship with the Dutchman.
Michael Owen has blasted Mohamed Salah for choosing to take his gripes with the Liverpool hierarchy public in an explosive interview on Sunday.
Salah went to the media after being benched for a third consecutive outing in Liverpool’s 3-3 draw at Leeds on Sunday, claiming to have been thrown “under the bus” by the club and that he doesn’t have a relationship with manager Arne Slot anymore.
The Egyptian has opened the door to an imminent Anfield exit when he returns from the Africa Cup of Nations in January, which would see Liverpool’s third all-time top goalscorer leave the club on sour terms.
Michael Owen experienced such an imperfect departure when he swapped boyhood club Liverpool for Real Madrid in 2004 - and while he previously came to the aid of the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold when he made the same move to the ire of Reds fans, Owen can't defend the actions of Salah.
"Oh Mo Salah," he wrote on X. “I can imagine how you feel. You’ve carried this team for a long time and won everything there is to win."
"I got a lot of promises in the summer and so far I am in the bench for three games so I can’t say they keep the promise."
"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."
"It is not acceptable for me. 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."
At first sight, I thought that this is a superstar who isn't happy with his current situation and he subsequently moaned about it - similar to what that prima donna, Cristiano Ronaldo, did. His status and history at the club will now be tarnished and have a smudge on his record.
However, the more I think about it, the more I believe that this was a smokescreen for another poor performance by Liverpool. No matter where I looked, all I saw regarding the club was the interview that was done. The calamity against Leeds was forgotten about. The Saudi links isn't new. It's long been known about the links.
At this juncture, it seems that all that will be talked about regarding Liverpool will be about Mo Salah. The pundits will forget about how his club perform; until they win a game. It's rather pathetic to think of doing.