Mo Salah

[Maxiedge]

First time he's been given time and space to hit his favourite top corner and what does he do?

[Irishnev]

Simon Hughes from The Athletic

Mohamed Salah is a reluctant talker, but that does not mean he is introverted. The last time he agreed to an interview with anyone in the British media, outside his club’s in-house operation, I was there.

He was only persuaded because he’d just broken the 40-goal barrier for Liverpool in his first season at Anfield. He was friendly enough and I liked that bit of spirit and spike about him, the sort of qualities you see in his play. Yet I quickly formed the impression that he was holding himself back, that he’d rather be elsewhere. After three minutes and 58 slightly awkward seconds, he was gone.

It cannot be easy being the most famous footballer to come from a country where there is totalitarian rule, as there is in Egypt. Your words matter. You have to be careful what you say. Especially when your hero and friend Mohamed Aboutrika lives in exile having been placed on a terrorist watchlist for what he has said (and supposedly done) in the past. Doubly when voters spoil ballots by using your name in elections where all of the forecasts are predictably in favour of the controlling party.

Salah expressed gratitude to his team-mates at the Football Writers’ Awards ceremony in May 2018 when he collected his winners’ trophy. In April 2019, he spoke to Time Magazine about women’s rights. That aside, he has told the world very little about himself since returning to England in 2017.

It was unusual for him, then, for him to grant Spanish sports paper AS a sit down in person and in front of a camera at a COVID-19-secure location on Merseyside in the middle of a pandemic, with the contents published yesterday. It was also unusual for him to be as candid as he was, posing later with an AS microphone in front of a Christmas tree.

There were two revelations, the first being that he was “very disappointed” to be overlooked for a captaincy role in this month’s Champions League dead rubber at Midtjylland, the second relating to a new contract being in Liverpool’s hands. Not so revealing was the description of Barcelona and Real Madrid as “top clubs”, though perhaps telling neither were described as “top teams”.

In journalism, securing an interview is the archetypal scoop. Salah appears to have gone off grid at a club where most things go to plan. Yet there tends to be an ulterior motive when a player talks so openly, particularly if he is usually so cautious.

The landscape and the surroundings of Salah’s future currently looks like this: the 28-year-old has two and a half years to run on his current deal, which is worth around £200,000 a week. His next contract might be the most lucrative of his career, but everything agreed after that will be on reduced terms. Barcelona, meanwhile, have presidential elections next month and there are men who will make big promises to ensure that soon they will be able to walk the corridors of power at the Camp Nou. Elsewhere, Real are desperate to sign Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain but financial restrictions might make that pursuit more challenging than it would have been in the past.

The Athletic understands that Jurgen Klopp and other key figures at Liverpool do not view Salah’s comments as a matter of frustration. It would have been understandable if Klopp’s decision to leave Salah on the bench against Crystal Palace on Saturday was his way of reminding him who is in charge, yet sources close to the manager suggest he’d decided before Liverpool’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night that he’d give his leading scorer an hour’s rest at Selhurst Park before introducing him for Sadio Mane.

Salah also emphatically suggested to AS that he was determined to break records at Anfield — “I repeat, every record”. The victory over Palace held historical significance, with Liverpool winning by a seven-goal margin away from home in the league for the first time in 106 top-flight years, with seven different players assisting the goals, the first time that’s happened in the Premier League. The result means Klopp has guided Liverpool to more wins than any other manager in the Premier League era, too.

Facts such as these reflect the variety of the threat posed by one of the most exciting Liverpool teams ever. This is a team that could allow Salah to realise his collective sporting ambitions as well as his personal ones. There is a temptation to think this might be the start of an exit strategy, but it is just as plausible that Salah wants to stay for a long time. Perhaps all he needs is an assurance that the club feel the same way, especially in the climate of COVID-19, which is expected to have caused north of £100 million in lost revenues.

Salah will be 31 at the end of his current contract, so sporting director Michael Edwards knows that he and Klopp have tough decisions ahead. Georginio Wijnaldum is likely to depart on a free transfer next summer and, at 30, he is one of the most influential players in Klopp’s starting XI. Perhaps it shows there is a willingness at Anfield to be bold when navigating such rocky waters.

[Cormack74]

Simon Hughes from The Athletic

Mohamed Salah is a reluctant talker, but that does not mean he is introverted. The last time he agreed to an interview with anyone in the British media, outside his club’s in-house operation, I was there.

He was only persuaded because he’d just broken the 40-goal barrier for Liverpool in his first season at Anfield. He was friendly enough and I liked that bit of spirit and spike about him, the sort of qualities you see in his play. Yet I quickly formed the impression that he was holding himself back, that he’d rather be elsewhere. After three minutes and 58 slightly awkward seconds, he was gone.

It cannot be easy being the most famous footballer to come from a country where there is totalitarian rule, as there is in Egypt. Your words matter. You have to be careful what you say. Especially when your hero and friend Mohamed Aboutrika lives in exile having been placed on a terrorist watchlist for what he has said (and supposedly done) in the past. Doubly when voters spoil ballots by using your name in elections where all of the forecasts are predictably in favour of the controlling party.

Salah expressed gratitude to his team-mates at the Football Writers’ Awards ceremony in May 2018 when he collected his winners’ trophy. In April 2019, he spoke to Time Magazine about women’s rights. That aside, he has told the world very little about himself since returning to England in 2017.

It was unusual for him, then, for him to grant Spanish sports paper AS a sit down in person and in front of a camera at a COVID-19-secure location on Merseyside in the middle of a pandemic, with the contents published yesterday. It was also unusual for him to be as candid as he was, posing later with an AS microphone in front of a Christmas tree.

There were two revelations, the first being that he was “very disappointed” to be overlooked for a captaincy role in this month’s Champions League dead rubber at Midtjylland, the second relating to a new contract being in Liverpool’s hands. Not so revealing was the description of Barcelona and Real Madrid as “top clubs”, though perhaps telling neither were described as “top teams”.

In journalism, securing an interview is the archetypal scoop. Salah appears to have gone off grid at a club where most things go to plan. Yet there tends to be an ulterior motive when a player talks so openly, particularly if he is usually so cautious.

The landscape and the surroundings of Salah’s future currently looks like this: the 28-year-old has two and a half years to run on his current deal, which is worth around £200,000 a week. His next contract might be the most lucrative of his career, but everything agreed after that will be on reduced terms. Barcelona, meanwhile, have presidential elections next month and there are men who will make big promises to ensure that soon they will be able to walk the corridors of power at the Camp Nou. Elsewhere, Real are desperate to sign Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain but financial restrictions might make that pursuit more challenging than it would have been in the past.

The Athletic understands that Jurgen Klopp and other key figures at Liverpool do not view Salah’s comments as a matter of frustration. It would have been understandable if Klopp’s decision to leave Salah on the bench against Crystal Palace on Saturday was his way of reminding him who is in charge, yet sources close to the manager suggest he’d decided before Liverpool’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night that he’d give his leading scorer an hour’s rest at Selhurst Park before introducing him for Sadio Mane.

Salah also emphatically suggested to AS that he was determined to break records at Anfield — “I repeat, every record”. The victory over Palace held historical significance, with Liverpool winning by a seven-goal margin away from home in the league for the first time in 106 top-flight years, with seven different players assisting the goals, the first time that’s happened in the Premier League. The result means Klopp has guided Liverpool to more wins than any other manager in the Premier League era, too.

Facts such as these reflect the variety of the threat posed by one of the most exciting Liverpool teams ever. This is a team that could allow Salah to realise his collective sporting ambitions as well as his personal ones. There is a temptation to think this might be the start of an exit strategy, but it is just as plausible that Salah wants to stay for a long time. Perhaps all he needs is an assurance that the club feel the same way, especially in the climate of COVID-19, which is expected to have caused north of £100 million in lost revenues.

Salah will be 31 at the end of his current contract, so sporting director Michael Edwards knows that he and Klopp have tough decisions ahead. Georginio Wijnaldum is likely to depart on a free transfer next summer and, at 30, he is one of the most influential players in Klopp’s starting XI. Perhaps it shows there is a willingness at Anfield to be bold when navigating such rocky waters.

Bascombe saying the opposite in the Telegraph today

[The_weatherman]

I'm not going to worry over his one, if he goes we'll replace him, we've seen what Edwards and Klopp can do, and tbh Salah owes a lot of his success to Klopp and the team. Same goes with Mane and everyone else. You can just see it with Jota, a good player with Wolves, all of a sudden looking close to world class in this team.

[RedReet]

What did he say? (Bascombe)

I just can't see how he would be dropped for saying he's disappointed. I thought his comments were much worse when I first heard the rumour and still dismissed that he's been dropped for anything other than to rest him.

Would we not have been training with our selected 11 before the interview was published anyway?

Regardless, I think it's actually a good sign that Mo even cared about being captain for a pointless game. Outside of England less is made of being made captain, so it's good to see that Mo cared enough to want to represent us as captain, even for a nothing game.

[marcus50bucks]

Mohamed Salah dropped by Liverpool after revealing 'disappointment' at captaincy decision and hinting at Spain move

Salah thought he would be handed the role for the Champions League tie versus Midtjylland, but Jurgen Klopp opted for Trent Alexander-Arnold

By Chris Bascombe and Sam Dean
19 December 2020 • 10:35am

Mohamed Salah was omitted from Liverpool’s starting lineup against Crystal Palace, hours after giving an interview in which he admitted he was "disappointed" to be overlooked as the club's stand-in captain and hinted that he could entertain a move to Spain.

Salah scored twice as a second-half substitute in Liverpool’s sensational 7-0 thrashing of Palace at Selhurst Park, with manager Jurgen Klopp saying the forward was being rested. Klopp added that he had “nothing to say” about Salah’s interview.

In the piece with Spanish publication AS, the Egyptian international said he thought he would be handed the role for the Champions League dead rubber against Midtjylland after Jordan Henderson started on the bench, and with vice-captains James Milner and Virgil Van Dijk unavailable due to injury.

But Klopp opted to reward youngster Trent Alexander-Arnold with the temporary leadership role, a position the academy graduate is expected to absorb full-time later in his career.

Salah said he was not happy with the decision. “Honestly, I was very disappointed,” he told AS. “I was expecting to be the captain. But it's a manager's decision, so I accept it.”

The timing of the remarks, and the fact that they could be construed as disrespectful to Alexander-Arnold, is certain to cause consternation at Anfield. It also prompted speculation that Salah’s omission from the team against Palace was a form of punishment.

Asked after the game about the decision to leave Salah on the bench, Klopp said: “It is the first time for a while we had the opportunity to do something like this. We played Sunday and Wednesday so we needed fresh legs today.

“Mo missed only seven minutes from the last four games. It is a massively intense period, so it was clear it would be him. Bringing him in for the last half an hour, I thought it was a good idea.”

When he was pressed on Salah’s comments in the interview, Klopp replied: “Nothing to say from my side about that. All fine.”

The fact that the interview appeared in one of Spain's biggest-selling publications will only add to the suspicion that Salah's representatives could be laying the groundwork for a transfer.

Asked if he has ambitions to move to one of the La Liga clubs, Salah told AS: “I think Madrid and Barcelona are top clubs. We never know what is going to happen in the future, but right now I'm focused on winning the Premier League and the Champions League again with my club.”

Salah signed a new five-year contract in 2018, but when asked how long he will stay at Anfield, he replied: “That's a tough one, but right now I can say that everything is in the club's hands. Of course I want to break records here and, I repeat, every record in the club, but everything's in the hands of the club.”

Liverpool have never offered any hint of wanting to sell one of the modern legends who helped them win the Champions League and Premier League.

Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have formed what is widely considered the most effective front three in Europe over the past years, each of them rewarded with new deals during that time.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/12/19/mohamed-salah-reveals-disappointment-liverpool-captaincy-decision/

[Peter_Griffin]

I personally think he was rested. Don’t think we make decisions based on interviews.

[Irishnev]

I personally think he was rested. Don’t think we make decisions based on interviews.

100% - Salah is one of our key players and we manage their minutes especially over the Christmas period. Never “dropped” in a million years and a nothing “story” from Bascombe

Salah said in the interview that he wanted to break ALL our records - he’ll need to be here for a few more years to do that

[RedReet]

Mohamed Salah dropped by Liverpool after revealing 'disappointment' at captaincy decision and hinting at Spain move

Salah thought he would be handed the role for the Champions League tie versus Midtjylland, but Jurgen Klopp opted for Trent Alexander-Arnold

By Chris Bascombe and Sam Dean
19 December 2020 • 10:35am

Mohamed Salah was omitted from Liverpool’s starting lineup against Crystal Palace, hours after giving an interview in which he admitted he was "disappointed" to be overlooked as the club's stand-in captain and hinted that he could entertain a move to Spain.

Salah scored twice as a second-half substitute in Liverpool’s sensational 7-0 thrashing of Palace at Selhurst Park, with manager Jurgen Klopp saying the forward was being rested. Klopp added that he had “nothing to say” about Salah’s interview.

In the piece with Spanish publication AS, the Egyptian international said he thought he would be handed the role for the Champions League dead rubber against Midtjylland after Jordan Henderson started on the bench, and with vice-captains James Milner and Virgil Van Dijk unavailable due to injury.

But Klopp opted to reward youngster Trent Alexander-Arnold with the temporary leadership role, a position the academy graduate is expected to absorb full-time later in his career.

Salah said he was not happy with the decision. “Honestly, I was very disappointed,” he told AS. “I was expecting to be the captain. But it's a manager's decision, so I accept it.”

The timing of the remarks, and the fact that they could be construed as disrespectful to Alexander-Arnold, is certain to cause consternation at Anfield. It also prompted speculation that Salah’s omission from the team against Palace was a form of punishment.

Asked after the game about the decision to leave Salah on the bench, Klopp said: “It is the first time for a while we had the opportunity to do something like this. We played Sunday and Wednesday so we needed fresh legs today.

“Mo missed only seven minutes from the last four games. It is a massively intense period, so it was clear it would be him. Bringing him in for the last half an hour, I thought it was a good idea.”

When he was pressed on Salah’s comments in the interview, Klopp replied: “Nothing to say from my side about that. All fine.”

The fact that the interview appeared in one of Spain's biggest-selling publications will only add to the suspicion that Salah's representatives could be laying the groundwork for a transfer.

Asked if he has ambitions to move to one of the La Liga clubs, Salah told AS: “I think Madrid and Barcelona are top clubs. We never know what is going to happen in the future, but right now I'm focused on winning the Premier League and the Champions League again with my club.”

Salah signed a new five-year contract in 2018, but when asked how long he will stay at Anfield, he replied: “That's a tough one, but right now I can say that everything is in the club's hands. Of course I want to break records here and, I repeat, every record in the club, but everything's in the hands of the club.”

Liverpool have never offered any hint of wanting to sell one of the modern legends who helped them win the Champions League and Premier League.

Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have formed what is widely considered the most effective front three in Europe over the past years, each of them rewarded with new deals during that time.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/12/19/mohamed-salah-reveals-disappointment-liverpool-captaincy-decision/

[Norbs]

First time he's been given time and space to hit his favourite top corner and what does he do?

He ****ing hits it

[Norbs]

I'm not going to worry over his one, if he goes we'll replace him, we've seen what Edwards and Klopp can do, and tbh Salah owes a lot of his success to Klopp and the team. Same goes with Mane and everyone else. You can just see it with Jota, a good player with Wolves, all of a sudden looking close to world class in this team.

Dyaknow, reading he has 2.5 seasons left with us is all OK with me. He's been brilliant, I love him and yet after 6 years it'll be good for him to find a new challenge

[Exiled_red]

I personally think he was rested. Don’t think we make decisions based on interviews.

100% - Salah is one of our key players and we manage their minutes especially over the Christmas period. Never “dropped” in a million years and a nothing “story” from Bascombe

Salah said in the interview that he wanted to break ALL our records - he’ll need to be here for a few more years to do that

This is the press trying to make something out of nothing, same with the Mane sulking thing yesterday. I have no doubt that either or both of them could go to Real Madrid or Barcelona, but at the moment why would you want to? We have as much (if not more) chance of winning our league and the CL as they do. The only reason I can imagine is money, but I don't think that is the major factor in their decisions.

[Doc_Piptorious]

This is the press trying to make something out of nothing, same with the Mane sulking thing yesterday. I have no doubt that either or both of them could go to Real Madrid or Barcelona, but at the moment why would you want to? We have as much (if not more) chance of winning our league and the CL as they do. The only reason I can imagine is money, but I don't think that is the major factor in their decisions.

Yep. If you want to be in with a better than average chance of winning major club honours then us or Bayern Munich would be the two obvious names.

Only other reason, apart from money as you mentioned, I would see for the big Spanish clubs coming into it would be climate and even then I am not sure that beats being part of a team that wins silverware.


The media really are driving their own agendas as supposed unrest gets more views/clicks than simply saying Liverpool won again. The Mane thing was being repeated over and over in game from the moment he was subbed off and has continued into today, and Salah being unhappy at not being captain was popping up everywhere online with many different variations that did not even resemble what Salah said in his interview.

[Buzzo]

I think Klopp is more than capable of managing any situations like this, particularly around captaincy etc. If Salah wants to stay then I hope he stays because he is a phenomenal player at the peak of his powers, I don’t see where else he can go really? Real and Barca in decline. Maybe Bayern? I wouldn’t be surprised to see him sign a new contract.

I must admit I thought he would be captain in that game.

[Maxiedge]

He ****ing hits it