Wayne Rooney has accused Mohamed Salah of being 'arrogant' following his public outburst against Arne Slot as the Manchester United legend said he handled a similar situation very differently
14:38, 08 Dec 2025
Wayne Rooney speaks
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Wayne Rooney has hit out at Mohamed Salah
Wayne Rooney has accused Mohamed Salah of being "arrogant" in claiming he's earned the right to be in the Liverpool team.
And Rooney has urged Salah to do what he once did when his ego had been popped - swallow his pride, shake hands with Liverpool boss Arne Slot and move on. Salah is sulking after being dumped from the team and claims Liverpool and Slot have thrown him under the bus. The Egyptian superstar reckons his achievements at Anfield mean he deserves more respect.
Rooney has revealed he found himself in a similar scenario back in 2016, when he struggled to get into the side following the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. But he went to see then-manager Jose Mourinho - and agreed to do whatever was best for the team at the time.
Arne Slot taps Mohamed Salah
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Mohamed Salah dropped a damning verdict of his relationship with Arne Slot(Image: PA)
He told the Wayne Rooney Show: "What you would like to think is, he (Salah) is one of the main players - if not the main player - for Liverpool over the last few years.
"And you want to see him roll his sleeves up and say 'ok then, I'll show you.' To have the arrogance to say he doesn't have to earn his place because he has already earned his place, you need to be at your best every week to try and stay in the team.
"That's part of being in a team sport. If I was one of his team-mates, I wouldn't be happy at all with what he said because this is where Liverpool need him most.
"If anything, he has thrown Liverpool under the bus with his words. I had it with (Jose) Mourinho. I started the season with Zlatan and I knew Jose only plays one up front.
Wayne Rooney - Jose Mourinho
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Wayne Rooney asked Jose Mourinho to leave Manchester United(Image: GETTY )
"In the first three or four games he played the two of us, and I knew as soon as I had a bad game, that I wasn't going to play and Zlatan was going to be the forward.
"I went in and had an honest conversation with Jose and asked him if I could go on loan in January, because I wanted to play. He said no, and said he needed me more so for the Europa League, but I could leave in the summer.
"I stood up, shook his hand, didn't complain about it again, sat on the bench and came on and played a few games from then until the end of the season.
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"But that was an honest conversation. Two men shaking hands and agreeing on something which I think is probably the right thing to do, rather than doing what Mo Salah has done."
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