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Curtis Jones has disclosed what Mohamed Salah said to the Liverpool squad after his explosive interview. Salah was left out of Liverpool’s squad for last week’s Champions League win over Inter Milan after claiming he no longer had a relationship with head coach Arne Slot following the Reds’ 3–3 draw with Leeds United. However, Salah returned for the victory over Brighton last weekend, making an impact off the bench by setting up Hugo Ekitike’s second goal.
Slot later confirmed he has “no issue to resolve” with Salah, who has now left to join Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations. Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones told Sky Sports that Salah had apologised to his team-mates following the interview, adding that the squad remains united behind the forward.
Jones said: “Mo is his own man and he can say his own stuff. He apologised to us and was like, ‘If I’ve affected anybody or made you feel any sort of way, I apologise’. That’s the man that he is. I can only speak from me knowing Mo and how he is with us and how he acted on that. He was positive as well. He was the exact same Mo, he had a big smile on his face and everybody was exactly the same with him. I guess it’s just part of wanting to be a winner and I don’t think he will be the last.
“I get that there are certain ways you can go about things, but if a lad’s fine to just be on the bench and he doesn’t want to play and help the team, then I think that’s more of an issue. When there’s been any sort of anger from us, including myself, it’s always been from a good place. In the moment, it might not have come out in the right way, but it’s never been to affect the team, the staff, the manager, anybody like that. We’re past that now and we’re gelling well as a team, playing well and starting to win games.”
In his Friday press conference, Arne Slot stated that he would not discuss Liverpool matters with Mohamed Salah while the forward is away at the Africa Cup of Nations. “I said last week that actions speak louder than words and we moved on,” said Slot. “He was in the squad and he was the first substitution I made. Now he’s at AFCON playing big games for himself but also his country. It’s fair to them but also us, because we are going to play some very important games, that all the focus is on him over there and there should not be any distraction from me saying anything about his time here at Liverpool. We moved on after the Leeds interview and he played against Brighton.”
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