Mohamed Salah claims he has been “thrown under the bus” by Liverpool and says he has no relationship with boss Arne Slot.
Salah failed to come off the bench as Liverpool were denied a win at Leeds this evening, Ao Tanaka scoring an injury-time leveller to give the hosts a point in a pulsating 3-3 draw.
Hugo Ekitike started and Alexander Isak came on as a late substitute but Salah – a two-time Premier League champion with the Reds – did not appear.
The Egypt international said afterwards: “I don’t know what to say. It’s funny but I couldn’t believe it. It is a really disappointing result for us as a team because we expect to win a game like that.”
Asked to explain what he couldn’t believe, Salah added: “That I’m sitting on the bench for 90 minutes. The third time on the bench, I think for the first time in my career.
“I’m very, very disappointed to be fair. I have done so much for this club down the years and especially last season.
“Now I’m sitting on the bench and I don’t know why. It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That is how I am feeling. I think 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 keep the promise.”
We don’t have a relationship – Salah on Slot
Salah signed a new, two-year deal in the summer after a brilliant season in 2024/25, Slot’s first at the club, but says his relationship with the Dutchman is not what it was.
“I said many times before that I had a good relationship with the manager, and all of a sudden we don’t have any relationship,” said the former Roma and Chelsea forward.
“I don’t know why but it seems to me, how I see it, that someone doesn’t want me in the club.
“This club, I always support it. My kids will always support it. I love the club so much I will always do. I called my mum yesterday – you guys didn’t know if I would start or not, but I knew.”
I don’t know what is going to happen – Salah
Liverpool host Brighton next weekend after which Salah is due to join up with the Egypt squad for the Africa Cup of Nations.
And he even suggested it may be his last appearance for the club.
He said: “Yesterday I said to them [my family], come to the Brighton game. I don’t know if I am going to play or not but I am going to enjoy it.
“In my head, I’m going to enjoy that game because I don’t know what is going to happen now.
“I will be in Anfield to say goodbye to the fans and go the Africa Cup of Nations. I don’t know what is going to happen when I am there.”
‘I am not the problem’
Salah is becoming tired of suggestions he is a “problem”.
“It is not acceptable for me,” he said. “I don’t know why this is happening to me. I don’t get it. I think if this was somewhere else, every club would protect its player.
“How I see it now is like you throw Mo under the bus because he is the problem in the team now. But I don’t think I am the problem. I have done so much for this club.
“The respect, I want to get. I don’t have to go every day fighting for my position because I earned it. I am not bigger than anyone but I earned my position. It’s football. It is what it is.
“Tomorrow (Jamie) Carragher is going to go for me again and again and that’s fine.”
