Mohamed Salah is under contract with Liverpool until June 2027, but his declining output, gigantic wages and continued links with Saudi Arabia make an early departure likely
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool FC
Mohamed Salah could leave Liverpool in the summer(Image: Paul Bonser/Getty Images)
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Mohamed Salah is reportedly 'increasingly likely' to leave Liverpool in the summer transfer window, despite patching things up with Arne Slot. Salah is back in the Liverpool team following a huge falling out with the manager in December, but his performances and contract status make a summer exit probable.
A lot of water has passed beneath the bridge since Salah said Slot had "thrown me under the bus" and that "there is no relationship" between the pair. They have since patched up their relationship and Salah is a regular fixture on the right wing for Liverpool once again.
However, things are not completely settled, despite Salah being under contract with the Reds until June 2027. Transfer interest from Saudi Arabia has been a constant around the Egyptian star, while a move to MLS has also been mooted as a possibility this summer.
Salah has seven goals and eight assists in 28 games across all competitions - a far cry from his lofty standards - and has gone nine Premier League games without scoring. BBC Sport says that his exit is now 'increasingly likely', in part because Liverpool don't want to lose him for nothing at the end of his contract.
The 33-year-old is also the club's highest-paid player, on around £400,000 per week, and he is no longer producing at such a level that makes him untouchable. Saudi clubs Al-Hilal, Al-Qadisah and Neom have all shown an interest in signing Salah and a league source said in January that a move is 'inevitable', given the factors at play.
Slot defended Salah's dip in form in his press conference before Liverpool's Premier League game against West Ham. "He set his own standards and those are so, so, so high that the moment when he doesn’t score for a few games, people are immediately surprised. So that is only something that’s probably the biggest compliment he can get," he said on Friday.
"We are used to Mo scoring a lot of goals and that’s at this moment of time maybe the biggest difference in his performances or in his game time. But we also know even in my time this has happened before.
Arne Slot and Mohamed Salah
Arne Slot has defended Mohamed Salah's form(Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
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"I don’t exactly know if it happened nine games in a row, but I’ve had these questions earlier: he didn’t score for three, he didn’t score for five or I don’t know exact numbers. But I also know that in the end, he always starts scoring again.
"And that’s the challenge he has now and we have now – to make sure he starts scoring again. Because he’s not our only attacker that at this moment of time doesn’t score as much as we are used to of our attackers.
"So, it’s not only the focus he deserved that is totally on him because of everything he did for the club, but Hugo [Ekitike] and Cody [Gakpo] haven’t scored that many goals recently as well. So it’s, again, a team thing that we have to improve."
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