Carragher described Salah’s tactics to talk publicly about his contract situation as ‘selfish’ with the Egyptian’s deal set to expire next summer
Mohamed Salah took a shot at Jamie Carragher after accepting the player of the match award after Liverpool’s win over Manchester City.
The Sky Sports pundit branded Salah’s decision to speak publicly about his contract situation as “selfish,” revealing after victory over Southampton that he was “more out than in”.
Carragher was upset with the timing of his comments as the Reds prepared to face Real Madrid and Manchester City, with Arne Slot’s side ultimately winning both matches.
“The most important thing is Liverpool winning the Premier League,” Carragher said following Salah’s remarks. “That is more important than any of those players, and if he continues to put comments out, or his agent keeps putting tweets out, that's selfish. That's thinking about themselves and not the football club.”
Standing alongside Virgil van Dijk as the player of the match award was presented to him after the 2-0 win at Anfield, the Reds captain asked who decided to hand the Egyptian the award.
And after being told it was Gary Neville, Van Dijk joked: “Well done, I’m surprised that Carra didn’t give it to you.”
In response, Salah said: “Oh he wouldn’t. Never. He wouldn’t give it to me. I don’t want to talk about it.”
Van Dijk added: “No, we don’t listen to any of that.”
Jamie Carragher has disagreed with how Mohamed Salah has handled Liverpool contract talks
Jamie Carragher has disagreed with how Mohamed Salah has handled Liverpool contract talks (Mike Egerton/PA Wire)
Carragher took the comment with good humour before maintaining Van Dijk’s behaviour has been the shining example of how to handle the situation of an expiring contract.
“Salah sees himself as one of those types of players and rightly so,” Carragher said on Sky Sports when discussing the importance of Salah as a difference maker looking for a big extension.
“But Van Dijk is one of those types of players too. All I'm asking for is Salah to not come out after every game when he scores a goal and talk about his situation.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot greets Mohamed Salah against Man City
Liverpool manager Arne Slot greets Mohamed Salah against Man City (Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
“Van Dijk is in the exact same situation and handled it brilliantly, there's nothing to report now, move on...
“It's about the club, they're always more important than the individual, especially when Liverpool are top of the Premier League.”