Mohamed Salah talks revealed as pressure builds on Arne Slot | Football | Sport
Egyptian football legend Mohamed Aboutrika has claimed Mohamed Salah is leaving Liverpool because of Arne Slot. Salah, 33, last week broke the news that he’ll be leaving the Reds at the end of the season.
Theories quickly arose as to why the forward has made the decision to leave, departing with a year left on his lucrative deal with the Anfield club. And now Aboutrika, Salah’s former team-mate, idol and friend, has revealed that he’s spoken to the Liverpool star since he made the bombshell announcement.
Appearing on beIN Sport, the ex-striker claimed that Slot ‘pushed Salah away’. “One of the reasons behind Mohamed Salah leaving Liverpool is the presence of Arne Slot, because we’ve seen issues in the recent period,” Aboutrika said.
“You, Slot, pushed the man away. Salah only had a two-year contract with Liverpool… Salah wants to work with peace of mind and enjoy the next phase of his career. Salah doesn’t need any validation from Slot or anyone else.”
He then added: “I spoke with him and told him about the preferred destination to go there. My relationship with him is one of brotherhood and friendship.
“I love him for the sake of God and I will not use my relationship with him for work. I told him my point of view on his next destination. Salah does not need anyone to guide him or give him advice.”
Despite winning the Premier League title in Slot’s first season at Anfield, Salah and his manager have had a fractious relationship. In November, after being left out of the starting line-up for three consecutive games, Salah said that he had ‘no relationship’ with Slot and was planning to leave the club after being thrown under the bus.
After showdown talks with Slot, the Egypt international returned to the side and has re-established himself as a regular starter following the Africa Cup of Nations. On Saturday, Salah missed a penalty as Liverpool suffered a 4-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
The loss came after Slot hinted that not everything about Salah’s decision had been made public. “So what appears to be true, especially in terms of Liverpool, is maybe not always true,” the Reds boss told a pre-match press conference.
“I think Mo has earned the right completely to decide whenever he thinks he should leave. And he’s done so many things for this club. He has to make up his own mind and that’s what he did.
“After that incident you are referring to [at Leeds], which are incidents that happen everywhere around the world almost every day when it comes to football, you know what has happened afterwards? He went to the AFCON and when he was back at the AFCON, he played every single game.
“So that’s the answer to your question. The only one who can talk about it is Mo himself. So you are now making the assumption that he wants to leave because he was out for six days. But that doesn’t have to be true.
“I would be surprised if there’s not moment when Mo’s going to share his thoughts about why he made the decision he made. It’s not up to me to do that. It’s up to him. And I would not go into all these assumptions, and I would be, how do you say this in English? I would be careful with assumptions, yes.”
