A closer inspection of Mohamed Salah's current situation at Liverpool after his 252nd goal for the club helped the Reds to a 3-0 FA Cup win over Brighton on Saturday
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield on February 14, 2026 in Liverpool, England
Mohamed Salah was near to his best again in Liverpool's win over Brighton(Image: Getty Images)
View Image
It's been a little over two months now since Mohamed Salah departed Liverpool with it unclear as to whether he would return.
Back then, a 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion marked his last appearance before representing Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco and came just a week after an extraordinary outburst at Leeds United, where he claimed his relationship with head coach Arne Slot was irreparable.
"There's no relationship between us," he said. “It was a very good relationship and now all of a sudden there is no relationship.”
Asked in the bowels of Elland Road on December 6 if he had played his last game for the club, he said: "In football you never know. I don’t accept this situation. I have done so much for this club.
"I cannot say it is impossible [to fix], but from what I feel, I have done so much for the club, I love the fans and the club so much, but I don’t know what is going to happen next."
Axed from the squad that travelled to Milan to face Inter in the Champions League a few days later before returning for the Brighton game the following weekend, it was clear-the-air talks between Salah and Slot which allowed for his eventual comeback.
And while the Egyptian once more started on the bench, an early injury for Joe Gomez paved the path to something which now, with the benefit of hindsight, could be considered some form of redemption.
Participation at AFCON was ideally timed for Salah, Slot and the entire club itself given how the story dominated the agenda in days that followed. It also, crucially, allowed some water to travel under the bridge for all concerned and came after the iconic No.11 had apologised to his team-mates privately for the furore after his controversial chat.
The celebrations in front of the Kop after that win over Brighton felt awkward at the time. On the one hand, it was identical to the hundreds of other times the Reds' third highest goalscorer of all time had saluted the crowd. But, at the same time, with no-one quite knowing - including the man himself - if that would be his final outing at Anfield, there was an air of the surreal to it all.
Slot later conceded he found it "uneasy" leaving out a player of Salah's stature at the time and while the winger's reaction to being dropped to the bench for three games across six days - West Ham United, Sunderland and Leeds - caused shockwaves around football, the head coach stopped short of claiming it was a mistake on his part.
"I always find it uneasy if I leave a player out and even more a player that has meant a lot for this club," said Slot. "You can work with a player for a long time and you have had success with them, but part of my job is making the decision that I think is the best for the team.
"But that is always an uneasy decision. Not only with Mo but every single player I leave out because of the work they put in."
Two months on, that incident appears a bizarre footnote in what is an otherwise storybook career for Salah at Anfield. And while the headlines understandably fixated on his claim that he had been "thrown under the bus" and that his relationship with Slot had broken down, there was also another morsel of information offered up that looks more prescient right now.
“Somehow [my Liverpool career] will end but the thing in my head is like why should it end this way?" Salah said at the time. "Because I am too fit, just five months ago I was just winning every individual award so why should it go this direction?"
Having smashed home the game-sealing penalty in Saturday's 3-0 win over Brighton in the FA Cup for what was his 252 goal, reports of the Egyptian King's demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated.
With seven now for the campaign, this will be the first season, barring a remarkable purple patch, where Salah will end the term without the in-house golden boot. And as he prepares for his 34th birthday in June, there is a gentle acceptance that his halcyon days are behind him.
FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE!All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook page
That, though, shouldn't automatically mean Salah is now a busted flush. His turn on Ferdi Kadioglu before bursting past the Turkish defender to win a penalty against the Seagulls on Saturday night was trademark stuff. And at a time when the club are clearly building for a post-Salah life up front with the eye-watering outlay to bring Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak into the fold, there is still ample room for Salah to prosper beyond this season.
It's been notable, in fact, how Liverpool's output in front of goal has significantly increased since the former Roma man returned to the fold. The Reds' seven games without him saw them generally labour in the final third with 11 goals in those matches, four of which came against League One side Barnsley. Against Arsenal at the Emirates, one of two goalless draws in Salah's absence, the visitors failed to have a shot on target for the first time in a league game since 2010.
Liverpool's seven matches since Salah was available for selection once again has, in contrast, seen them plunder 20, although six were admittedly against Champions League minnows Qarabag.
And while Salah has only notched two during that time, just having the peerless attacker in the side is enough to provoke the sort of jitters from the opposition that Liverpool are clearly benefiting from.
“Mo is a Liverpool player and a very important Liverpool player over all those years set the bar extremely high," said Virgil van Dijk after Saturday's game. "I can only say for us nothing has changed, we all want him to score and we all want us to do well as a team but it's not been an easy season and the only thing he can do is keep going and try to be important.
"I think he is still important and there is a lot more than just to be out there trying to score goals, there are so many things people don't see what is important to try to become a successful team. Let's see for the rest of the season how important he still is and can be and the rest of the team will hopefully be successful but there is still a long way to go."
It's been a strange old campaign for the Reds, as evidenced by the remarkable furore inside Elland Road in early December. But Saturday night felt like a decent stride towards normality all round.
Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source.Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings