Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard has revealed what he told Mohamed Salah during his bitter fall-out with boss Arne Slot in December – and says he believes the winger’s impending exit is ‘in everyone’s best interests’.
Last week, Salah, 33, announced that he will be leaving the Premier League champions at the end of the season, bringing the curtain down on an illustrious nine years at Anfield.
The announcement came four months after he accused Liverpool of throwing him ‘under the bus’, while claiming that he no longer had a relationship with Slot.
And now Gerrard has given his thoughts on Salah’s departure from Merseyside, revealing to The Overlap that he still speaks to the Egyptian over text.
‘I think it’s in everyone’s best interests. I think the timing is right in my opinion,’ Gerrard said.
‘Especially after the – he’s obviously had a disagreement with the manager. I don’t know at what level but he’s done the interview which I think he’ll regret further down the line.
‘But that told me there was an issue there. I think also, even going back before that, Liverpool as a football club only wanted to give Mo Salah one year. Rather than the two, but because he had such an outstanding season and his numbers were great, they have given him a two-year [contract].
‘For me, I only ever saw it as a one-year at that level. We’ve all played in those years and I just think for everyone, it’s in everyone’s [best] interest for it to end, but also end on Mo Salah’s terms.
‘I spoke to him around that interview at the time and sort of said to him “don’t do what you’ve done and go under a cloud”. I spoke to him direct.
‘He texts me now and again, or I text him, more to do if I’m going somewhere with Lio. Just so Lio (Gerrard’s son) can see him.
‘I’m not close to him, but it gave me the opportunity to say “You’ve been here for eight or nine years, you’ve come here and got this legacy. Just go on your terms the right way”.’
Salah, who is the third-highest scorer in Reds history with 255 goals, has struggled to find the net with his usual regularity this season, bagging just five in 22 Premier League matches so far.
His dip in form led to Slot dropping the winger during the winter period, when Liverpool were enduring a difficult spell, which prompted Salah to lash out in the mixed zone following the Reds’ dramatic 3-3 draw with Leeds at Elland Road before Christmas.
Gerrard continued: ‘[Salah’s] still a little emotional from the incident. He was sub and in and out of the team at the time. He was upset. But I just thought it would have been a shame if he’d left in January and just left.
‘I understand both sides of it. Now that I’ve done a bit of managing myself, I understand both sides of it.’
The former Liverpool captain explained how he could relate to Salah, recalling a debacle he had with Brendan Rodgers at the back end of his 17-year spell at Anfield.
‘I had a similar thing with Brendan,’ he added. ‘But when I look back at it now, I’m out of the game and less emotional, you understand it from where Brendan is.
‘Maybe you’re not the same player at 34 or 35. There’s no real way you should play every minute of every game just because you’re the captain, but at the time, it’s not easy when you’re in the team or squad and you’re about to play Man United for example and you’re sub.
‘You look at the players who are playing and think you’re just as good, if not better than those players. It’s difficult in the player’s situation. I had the situation at Rangers with Jermain Defoe, who was brilliant for me, top around the place.
‘Best professional you’ll work with, he wanted to play more and play every minute of every game because he was in the position I was in under Brendan.
‘But as a manager, you have to do what’s right and what’s best for the team and if someone is out of form, or not playing, or can’t do the job you’re looking for, as a manager you have to make big decisions.’
