Mohamed Salah has decided to leave Liverpool at the end of the season, months after a very public falling out with manager Arne Slot over his lack of game time and poor form
Arne Slot speaks at a press conference
Arne Slot spoke at length about the perception of Mo Salah's decision to leave Liverpool(Image: This Is Anfield)
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Arne Slot says he has no regrets over the way he handled the Mohamed Salah fallout earlier this season - and insisted it is not behind his exit from Liverpool this summer.
Salah announced recently that he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season. The 33-year-old will bow out at the end of a difficult campaign which saw him publicly call out Slot for leaving him on the bench. Back in December, Salah said his manager had "thrown me under the bus" by blaming him for the team's poor form.
After being benched for three straight games, Salah claimed "there is no relationship" between himself and Slot and that "someone doesn’t want me in the club". The two eventually repaired their relationship, with Salah returning to the side and Slot remains convinced he handled the situation as best he could.
"I look back at this season thinking that I made a few decisions that could have been better but I’m not talking about this specific thing with Mo," Slot said in Friday's press conference ahead of Liverpool's FA Cup quarter final against Manchester City.
"I don't regret many things I did during a little longer than one-and-a-half years together. Again, the assumption that if he's not playing that he wants to leave - that's the assumption being made - then he would have left one-and-a-half years ago.
"I can remember West Ham away when he wasn't playing (under Jurgen Klopp in 2024). I wasn't there. He didn’t decide to leave. The assumption is that if you don’t play in these games and all of a sudden wants to leave, it is an assumption and maybe it is true or maybe it isn’t. But history has shown is that he did not do that previously and had a great season after that.
"When things like this are announced to the outside world, I don't think it's a surprise for you to hear that there are a lot of discussions, talks going on between him, his agent, the club, me and him, before this comes out in the public.
"But, as I always said, and I'm not going to change on what has been said between the two of us, or between him and the club, that is something I'm not going to share.
Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak of Liverpool on the bench during the Premier League match between Leeds United and Liverpool at Elland Road
Mohamed Salah was fed up at being on the bench earlier in the season(Image: Getty)
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"If he wants to share his reasons why he did it then it's up to him, but that's not up to me to speak for him. I hear a lot being said about Liverpool and one of the funny things about Liverpool is that almost everything that is out there is not true.
"What I mean is I see sometimes that we are trying to sign players. I'm like, ‘what is everybody talking about? We're not even considering the player or even talking about him at all?’ I think that's a big, big compliment to the people who work here.
"Even when I signed, there were a lot of other names mentioned when I already knew I already signed. So that says something about Liverpool."
Slot also hinted that there was more to the situation that hadn't been made public. He added: "So what appears to be true, especially in terms of Liverpool, is maybe not always true. I think Mo has earned the right completely to decide whenever he thinks he should leave. And he's done so many things for this club. He has to make up his own mind and that's what he did.
Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, reacts on the sidelines during the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Liverpool at Amex Stadium on March 21, 2026 in Brighton, England
Arne Slot spoke at length about Mo Salah(Image: 2026 Liverpool FC)
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"After that incident you are referring to [at Leeds], which are incidents that happen everywhere around the world almost every day when it comes to football, you know what has happened afterwards? He went to the AFCON and when he was back at the AFCON, he played every single game.
"So that's the answer to your question. The only one who can talk about it is Mo himself. So you are now making the assumption that he wants to leave because he was out for six days. But that doesn't have to be true.
"I would be surprised if there's not moment when Mo's going to share his thoughts about why he made the decision he made. It's not up to me to do that. It's up to him. And I would not go into all these assumptions, and I would be, how do you say this in English? I would be careful with assumptions, yes."
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