Liverpool manager Arne Slot is preparing for crunch talks with Mohamed Salah on Friday as tensions between the club and their long-serving forward dominate the build-up to Saturday’s Premier League match against Brighton at Anfield.
With speculation mounting about Salah’s future and the forward set to leave for the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday, this latest chapter has added significant strain to an already unsettled week for the Reds.
The situation escalated after Liverpool’s 2–2 draw at Leeds, where Salah, speaking in the mixed zone, claimed he had been “thrown under the bus” and insisted he had “earned his place” in the team.
Days later, he was omitted from the squad for the Champions League trip to Inter Milan, despite being fully fit. While Salah has been an unused substitute in two of Liverpool’s past three league fixtures, the severity of the off-field tension became fully apparent only this week.
Slot attempted to strike a conciliatory tone when addressing the press on Friday. “I have no reasons to not want him to stay,” he said, maintaining that the club still values the Egyptian forward.
The manager emphasised the importance of his upcoming meeting with Salah, suggesting that Saturday’s team selection hinges entirely on the tone and outcome of that conversation. “The outcome of that conversation determines how things will look,” he added.
Liverpool approach Saturday’s match seeking to recover from consecutive league draws, yet the football has been overshadowed by the drama surrounding a player who has defined the club’s modern era.
Salah, 33, has scored 250 goals in 420 games since joining from Roma in 2017, becoming one of the most prolific forwards in Europe and a global star in the process. But his reduced role under Slot has raised questions about whether this season marks the beginning of a natural transition or a deeper rift.
Slot, however, was keen to insist that squad decisions remain firmly his own, dismissing suggestions that club executives have interfered. “When it comes to the decision-making of the line-up or the squad, they leave that open to me,” he said.
