Mohamed Salah emerged from the corridor leading to the London Stadium in conversation with David Moyes.
As the West Ham United manager placed a hand on his shoulder and they said goodbye, Salah was accompanied by a member of Liverpool’s security staff for the short walk to the team bus.
He had to walk past a group of journalists eager to give their opinion on an inappropriate touchline argument with his manager as he waited to be introduced on the bench 11 minutes into the 2-2 draw.
A few moments earlier, Jurgen Klopp had sought to draw a line under this point during his press conference. “We talked about it in the locker room, but it’s done for me. That’s it.” Asked if the Egyptian striker saw things that way, Klopp added: “That was my impression, yes.”
So nothing to see here? Water under the bridge? Salah clearly didn’t get the memo.
It’s common for him to decline interview requests – he’s only stopped after the match to speak to the British print media twice in almost seven years – but it wasn’t the usual smiling riposte of ” not today, thank you.”
Without slowing his pace, he said, “There’s going to be fire today if I speak.” »
The words were spoken matter of factly. “Fire?” Athleticism asked.
“Of course,” he replied.
After his manager tried to put out the flames, Salah poured gasoline on them.
There was no need for “fire”. He could have taken advantage of this to minimize the altercation. Better yet, he could have publicly apologized for the lack of respect he showed Klopp. He did neither.
After a miserable few weeks that saw Liverpool’s title fight disintegrate, it was another sad sight on Klopp’s farewell tour.
As a reminder, Salah was added to the club’s management group last summer because he was seen as a role model for the team’s youngsters. And it wasn’t a brief moment of irritation. This lasted more than a minute.
The flashpoint began with Salah, annoyed at being on the bench for so long, reluctant to shake Klopp’s hand as he prepared to come on. Words were exchanged before Klopp found his fellow substitutes Darwin Nunez and Joe Gomez more willing to embrace it.
As the action continued, Klopp initially walked away from the situation and focused his attention on the pitch before returning to Salah and getting something else off his chest.
What followed was completely unacceptable as the usually mild-mannered Salah expressed his displeasure towards his manager, raising his arms and pointing in Klopp’s direction. It took Nunez, the unlikeliest of peacemakers, to step in to calm his teammate.
A heated exchange between Mohamed Salah and Jürgen Klopp on the sidelines just before West Ham’s equalizer 😳
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Just to end a bleak few minutes, Michail Antonio nodded West Ham level before the triple substitution could be made.
At the final whistle, Salah was the first Liverpool player to leave the pitch, briefly applauding towards the away side, before ruffling his hair and disappearing down the tunnel. It was the day when the frustration that had been gradually building up inside him burst out.
Salah’s durability has been as remarkable as his goalscoring exploits since arriving at Anfield from Roma in the summer of 2017. He missed just 10 league matches in his first six seasons at Liverpool .
This season he has missed significantly more playing time. A hamstring injury during the Africa Cup of Nations on January 18 kept him out until the trip to Brentford on February 17. Then he immediately broke down and spent another three weeks on the bench and was unavailable for the Carabao Cup final.
Since his return to action, he has scored just five goals in 13 appearances, including two from the penalty spot. During this damaging period, Liverpool were knocked out of the FA Cup, the Europa League and dropped out of the title race.
In three of the last six matches, Salah was on the bench. Just look at how he reacted after being substituted in games to understand how much not being in the starting XI hurts.
The harsh reality is that he can’t complain about being neglected lately. He didn’t press as he should out of possession, his touch let him down on several occasions, and in the final third he was wasteful. He looks like a player lacking pace and confidence.
Sorting out Salah’s future is one of the most pressing items on new head coach Arne Slot’s list of candidates as he prepares to succeed Klopp.
It’s a real dilemma. He is one of the greatest players in the club’s history; a striker who is fifth in the all-time goalscoring list with 210 goals in 346 matches and is still the top scorer with 24 goals in all competitions in 2023-24. He became the first Liverpool player to score more than 20 goals in all competitions in seven consecutive seasons.
It would be premature to describe his slump as proof that he is a force in decline, but, as he turns 32 in June and enters the final year of his contract, it would be a tall gamble to offer another lucrative extension to someone earning over £350,000. ($437,145) per week.
Last August, Liverpool turned down a £100 million offer, rising to £150 million with additions from Saudi Pro League side Al Ittihad, largely because they did not have enough time to find a suitable replacement. If a similar offer were presented much earlier this summer, they would surely be tempted to take advantage of it given their autonomous economic model.
Much will depend on Salah himself. Is he ready to say goodbye to elite football in Europe and head to Saudi Arabia? There is a school of thought that he would rather sit out the final year of his contract and then leave as a free agent when he could command a huge signing fee.
Perhaps a real break this summer and a fresh start under Slot will allow him to get going again.
But Salah needs to think about what happened at the London Stadium because he let himself down. If he had anything to say, it should have been behind closed doors.
Klopp elevated Salah to global icon status at Anfield – his outgoing manager deserved better than that.
(Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)