There was a moment at the end of Liverpool’s final game of the 2025/26 season when Virgil van Dijk sat on the Anfield pitch and watched Mohamed Salah take his final bow — nine years, 255 goals, four Golden Boots, and a legacy that will not be matched in that shirt for a generation.
The Egyptian king had already made his club decision.
What remained unresolved was what came next.
For weeks, the footballing world has been spinning theories.
Saudi Arabia, with its financial power and growing ambition, has been the most frequently cited destination.
European clubs monitoring a 34-year-old still producing at elite levels.
A fairytale return to Roma, where his reputation was first built on Italian soil.
Even a move back to Egypt to wind down in front of a home crowd that has worshipped him since his earliest days at Al-Mokawloon.
The speculation has been inevitable for a player of Salah’s stature.
His Liverpool numbers are almost incomprehensible when laid out in full — 435 appearances, 255 goals, 119 assists, the third-highest scorer in the club’s entire history behind only Ian Rush and Roger Hunt.
His Premier League record of 189 goals and 92 assists for the Reds represents the most goal contributions for a single club in the competition’s history.
He shares the all-time Golden Boot record with Thierry Henry.
He won the PFA Players’ Player of the Year three times — the first ever to do so.
But while his club future continues to generate headlines, a separate and deeply significant decision has now emerged — and this one comes with a clear answer.
Mohamed Salah has decided to continue his international career with the Egyptian national team beyond the 2026 World Cup, with the explicit target of reaching the 2030 tournament in four years’ time.
The confirmation came from Mustafa Abu Zahra, a member of the Egyptian Football Association, who stated that Salah will continue alongside coach Hossam Hassan as part of a long-term national team vision aimed at building toward 2030.
The timing of the announcement adds considerable weight to it.
Egypt are currently competing at the 2026 World Cup, having advanced from the group stage and past Australia in a dramatic round-of-32 penalty shootout — Salah leading the charge in what many had assumed would be his final tournament for the Pharaohs.
With 120 caps and 68 international goals, he is already the most decorated Egyptian footballer in history.
The decision to extend his international commitment signals something profound, that Salah, at 34, does not consider himself to be in the closing phase of his career.
He is still competing. Still producing. Still believing he has more to give at the highest level.
Whatever his club situation resolves to be this summer, one thing is now certain.
The Egyptian captain has unfinished business, and he intends to see it through.
🚨🚨 عــــاجــل 🚨🚨
• محمد صلاح يقرر إكمال مسيرته مع منتخب مصر بعد كأس العالم. ـــــ صلاح سيكون متواجدًا برفقة مدربه حسام حسن في مونديال 2030، وفقًا لـ مصطفى أبو زهرة (عضو اتحاد الكرة). pic.twitter.com/Mp8BJap8M7
— كأس العالم™ (@TrendEPL) July 4, 2026