Is Mohammad Salah really surprised by all this?
Salah may feel blindsided, yet Liverpool’s long-term transition away from their star was never a secret.
(Author’s note: Yea I know, I’m writing a quick post about Liverpool. Don’t worry, there’s a United post coming out later this week).
It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That is how I am feeling. 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 on the bench for three games, so I can’t say they kept their promises.
By now everyone reading this newsletter has either seen the Mo Salah interview or at least read the quotes. My initial thoughts were these are some very damning quotes but upon thinking about it more, they’re not. This is a player upset about his current situation and he’s airing it out. He’s also laying the groundwork to leave.
Let’s get one thing out of the way. Giving this interview was not an off the cuff decision by Salah. Players walk through the mixed zone after every game and almost never stop to talk to anyone. Salah giving this interview is indicative of his plan to speak out on the matter.
I applaud Salah for doing that. Players almost never speak out on what’s going on behind closed doors and because of that we only get the side of the story that club or coach wants you to here. Too often that shapes the fan bases opinion against the player. Sometimes the player is being a douche, but sometimes the club is. Salah is trying to control the situation before the story gets spun against him.
That story is there’s a good chance Salah has played his final game for Liverpool. Next week he’ll leave to go to AFCON which will carry him into the January transfer window, at which point a move to Saudi Arabia could be on the cards.1
This was likely to happen anyway but now Salah has a lead in the PR war that will shape the fans sentiment.
Now I can’t speak to what Salah actually said, especially regarding his relationship with Arne Slot. Who’s to dispute that their relationship has broken down? Who knows who’s fault it is. This is something that happens all the time in sport.
While I applaud Salah for speaking out and telling his side of the story, I don’t agree with him. I don’t think Liverpool are throwing him under the bus here. In fact, I really have to ask how Salah is even surprised this is happening? If you paid any attention last season, the writing has been on the wall that this day was coming for a long time now.
Mo Salah turned back the clocks and went supernova last season, scoring 29 goals and adding 18 assists in the league. For a while he was well on pace to break Thierry Henry’s record for most assists in a season.
Salah’s contract was up at the end of the season and despite the fact that he was by far and away the best player in the league, Liverpool were not over eager to re-sign him.
While Liverpool were running away with the title, the backstory of the season was the contract negotiation for Salah, which ultimately lasted until April. Salah wanted a three year deal, Liverpool wanted no part of that. There were naturally disputes about his wages as well.
Salah’s stance was simple. I’m still the best player in the league therefore I deserve to be paid like the best player in the league. I’d like a three year deal for long term security.
Liverpool’s stance was also pretty simple. Sure you’re the best player in the league right now, but you’re also over performing your xG and xAG by a considerable margin. At 32 years old you’re unlikely to replicate that over performance again. Hell, you’re unlikely to even replicate those underlying numbers again.
Salah is a club legend and probably the biggest reason Liverpool won two Premier League titles, the Champions League, and reached two other Champions League finals. Liverpool knew the optics of letting him leave over a contract dispute would not be good but the reality is they didn’t see Salah as part of their future. That’s the long term future or even the medium term future.
They ultimately agree on a two year contract in April, but when the transfer window opened two months later, they began making plans to transition the team away from being “Mo Salah’s team.” When all was said and done they spent roughly £416 million on new players this summer including £100 million on Florian Wirtz and £125 million on Alexander Isak.
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This was always going to be a rough season for Liverpool. It was going to be one where they transitioned the team away from being built around Salah to being built around one of their newly bought stars. Salah would go from being the main guy - the one that Liverpool played through - to being a support character for someone else.
Liverpool didn’t start the season continuing with Salah as their main guy and slowly transitioning away from that. Right from the jump Salah was already playing more of a support role and his form struggled. Despite Liverpool winning their first five games, they were far from cohesive and there were a lot of warning signs that things could start falling apart.
Liverpool have now won just one of their last eight Premier League games. A part of that has been because Salah’s form has been poor - but as we just noted one reason for that is because he’s taking on a new role. A bigger reason for the struggles is because, none of their new signings have taken the mantle of being their new guy.
Four months into the season all Liverpool know is this isn’t Mo Salah’s team anymore, but they have no club whose team it actually is. Florian Wirtz’s struggles have been well documented so far while Alexander Isak has scored just one Premier League goal in eight appearances. Hugo Ekiteke had gotten off to a good start but until his brace last weekend he had stopped scoring once Isak had come into the team. The new signings haven’t really gelled together, or with Salah, and they certainly haven’t been compatible enough to be on the pitch at the same time.
Now put yourself in Arne Slot’s shoes. You’ve tried many different things and nothing is quite working. You’ve got a player who not only is about to leave for a month but isn’t slated to be part of your long term future. Can you really blame him for removing Salah and seeing how the players who will be here for the next month - and the next few years - do without having to sacrifice parts of their games for Salah?
It’d be one thing if Liverpool were winning but when they’re not, surely if you’re Slot you have to give it a try?
Again I’m not privy to what’s happening behind closed doors at Anfield. Salah most certainly should not be blamed as Liverpool still aren’t winning since he came out of the team. From the outside looking in this doesn’t look like they’re trying to blame Salah. This looks like a coach is just trying to figure out what the right combination of players is as he tries to get his team to win games.
Perhaps this was always Slot’s plan because he was always going to need to prepare for the team to be without Salah for a month. Perhaps Salah is right and the club is trying to push him out? Both situations are entirely plausible.
Salah’s feelings are hurt and that’s completely understandable. To reach the level that Salah reached you have to have very high levels of confidence in yourself - and if you have those kinds of confidence levels then it’s natural to believe you’re just in a bad run of form but you’re perfectly capable of getting back to that level again. Many athletes struggle with facing the reality that they aren’t as good as they once were.
A year ago Liverpool made it clear that Mo Salah was not in their future. Since then we knew this day was coming. Maybe it’s a surprise that it’s happening as early as December, but we knew it was coming.
Was Mo Salah really that blind, or was he just in denial?
It’s hard to see the Saudi’s not being interested in a player of Salah’s caliber. If he wants a move he should be able to get it