A former teammate says Mo Salah would have definitely stayed at Liverpool if Arne Slot had been fired sooner.
Former teammate Dejan Lovren believes Mohamed Salah would have “100% stayed” at Liverpool if Arne Slot had been sacked earlier in the season, as the two didn’t get along well. After nine amazing years at Anfield, Salah decided to end his time with Liverpool at the end of the 2025-26 season.
Several reasons influenced Salah’s choice to leave, including his rocky relationship with Slot, who benched him several times during a rough patch. When asked about his relationship with Slot after being dropped against Leeds in December, Salah said, “Yeah, there’s no relationship between us. It was a very good relationship and now all of a sudden there is no relationship.”
Just before Liverpool’s last game against Brentford, Salah was hesitant to talk about leaving. He said, “Last season I wasn’t ready to go, but now with everything happening this season, I won’t go into detail, but it’s time. There are a lot of things behind the scenes people don’t know about. I’m at peace with it.” He also suggested Liverpool should get back to being a “heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear,” hinting at his frustration with the current style under Slot.
Now that Salah has left, Lovren shared more about the situation in an interview with Winwin. When asked if Salah would have stayed if Slot left sooner, Lovren replied, “Yes, he would’ve stayed 100%. Believe me, the timing was just bad. Only a fool would say we don’t need him anymore.”
Lovren went on to say, “Saying Liverpool doesn’t need Salah when he can play at a high level for two or three more years shows you don’t understand football.” He also opened up about the clash between Salah and Slot: “It’s not about management really—it’s just that these two didn’t get along. With Klopp, Salah had a wonderful relationship. They weren’t perfect, but they trusted and cared for each other, and Klopp gave him confidence. With Slot, it was the complete opposite.”
He added, “You can see how well Salah did over the past eight or nine seasons. Some might say he did fine in Slot’s first year, but I think that was just because Slot inherited a strong team already.” Lovren finished by saying it’s sad to see Salah leave like this, especially since he still had another year left on his contract. “I never expected this.”