Liverpool manager Arne Slot has spoken out on the situation with star player Mohamed Salah as it remains to be seen if he’ll play against Brighton this weekend.
Liverpool host Brighton at Anfield on Saturday at 3pm, and all eyes will be on Salah, who was dropped from Slot’s squad to face Inter Milan in midweek, having been on the bench for the last three Premier League games.
The Egypt international did not respond well to being dropped to the bench, having publicly criticised Slot in an explosive interview after the 3-3 draw away to Leeds United.
Slot himself then responded by axing Salah from his matchday squad altogether in the Champions League, but it seems he’s open to the 33-year-old returning.
Arne Slot on talks with Mohamed Salah
Speaking ahead of the weekend game, Slot told his press conference, as quoted by BBC Sport, that he’s already had a lot of talks with Salah’s representatives and more meetings are scheduled to see if he’ll end up playing against Brighton.
“I will have a conversation with Mo,” the Dutch tactician said.
“The outcome of that conversation determines how things will look [on Saturday].
“After the Sunderland game there were a lot of conversations between his representatives and ours, between him and me.”
Should Salah still be starting for Liverpool?
Salah has not quite looked at his best this season, and the stats below show that he’s making less of an impact in basically every department…
Salah surely hasn’t lost all his talent over a matter of months, but he is at the age where some key attributes can start to wane quickly.
The former Roma man simply hasn’t looked as sharp in front of goal, and throughout his career he often relied on his pace and dribbling qualities.
Those things will go with age, and perhaps Slot is justified in thinking his team could look stronger overall without Salah in it now.
No matter what he has done since arriving at LFC, no one is bigger than the club. To say he does not have to earn his place each week is a disgrace and extremely arrogant. After deservedly being dropped for 3 games he spits his dummy out when lads like Robbo, dropped for 5 games in a row just gets on with it or Chiesa who has got himself fit and rarely plays but can run the full length of the pitch to stop Sunderland from scoring a second when the rest of the team are still over the half way line. Salah has been terrible this year. I can accept him not scoring or assisting, players go through these patches but his crossing is not getting passed the first man, his first touch has been poor, when one on one, I do not think he has won one this season and he does not defend even if the rest of the lads are struggling and need help. I’d get rid, anything of 35mill would be profit. I said this a few years ago when he should have gone instead of Mane. Use the money to get in Semenyo and Guehi to stabilise the team. I’d also get Elliot back and give him one last chance – at least the kid will defend.