Mohamed Salah has detailed his relationship with 'tough' Arne Slot and why he will have to change again at Liverpool next season
Liverpool boss Arne Slot embraces Mohamed Salah
Liverpool boss Arne Slot embraces Mohamed Salah(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Mohamed Salah has never been one for standing still when it comes to furthering his Liverpool career. And the forward is expecting to be on the move once again next season.
Salah has enjoyed an outstanding campaign during which his efforts in helping the Reds secure a 20th championship have seen him named Footballer of the Year, close in on a record-equalling fourth Premier League Golden Boot and be in the running for the Ballon d'Or, as well as move into the top three of Liverpool all-time goalscorers.
There are further records on the horizon. With two games remaining, Salah is two away from equalling the Premier League record for most assists in a season, and one more goal or assist would see him equal the competition's best-ever tally of goal involvements in a campaign.
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Salah - who is expected to make his 400th Liverpool appearance at Brighton on Monday, which would also be his 300th career Premier League outing - has benefited from a change in approach introduced by new boss Arne Slot during the summer.
But the Egyptian admits he and the head coach won't be able to rest on their laurels when it comes to finding out ways to ensure the forward remains as potent next term.
"He is quite tough," says Salah of Slot. "If he wants something then he'll keep asking you. It was quite tricky in the beginning but after that you get used to him and how he talks to you and what he wants from you. Things become easier.
"We had a few honest conversations between us and he was very honest and he showed me a few clips of mine and said ‘with this Mo we can win everything, with this one we can’t win much. So, I want to get the best out of you, I want this one to be available the whole season and I want you to have your best years coming with me'.
“I said, ‘okay, let me know what you want from me then I will do it because I’m very professional and I know what I can do’.
“He was very respectful and he treated me different. So, it wasn’t really challenging me, it was just showing me what he wanted from me and he asked me also, if you want to add something or if you want to change something, be open with me. And yeah, that was great.
"Now I am involved more with the ball and have it more at my feet and do what I want with it. I know I can create a chance.
"He has changed my position slightly and I think that's helped me during the season. But other teams are adapting to that, so I will talk to him about it for next season. I can see it in the game, I can see teams doubling me all the time and expecting where I will be."
It wasn't long into the season when Salah realised Liverpool had made the right decision in appointing Slot as successor to long-time boss Jurgen Klopp.
“I think in the first few games, in the second half he always changed the tactics," says the forward, speaking to Sky Sports. "Not just that (substitutions), the tactics themselves.
“You go to the game and you see some managers like ‘this is my style and you have to do it the whole game’ but he’s adapting somehow to how our opponent is playing and just like putting Dominik (Szoboszlai) in a different position, putting Macca (Alexis Mac Allister) in a different position.
"He doesn’t have that ego that ‘okay, these are my tactics and it didn’t work but it will work in the second half’. No, no, no. He can adapt around. And in my head that’s very clever, very disciplined."
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Salah will spend the next two years at Liverpool having last month agreed a new contract extension that will take his Anfield commitment to a decade.
And the 32-year-old is setting his sights high for the future. “I really wish we win the Champions League again," he says. "I know the Premier League is always nice for the club, that’s how it should be, but I think I would love to win the Champions League again and the Premier League again – at least one in the two years.
“It’s good: the players are new, the players are excited, the players are young. They learn from us [the senior players] and they also have their ability to give it all, so I think we have a very good group and I think we can win every trophy that we can want.”