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Mohamed Salah’s turbulent final chapter at Liverpool: How a nine-year story unravelled
Robin Bairner
- Updated: 8 Dec 2025 18:01 GMT
- 10 min read
Analysis
Mohamed Salah seems to have written his exit from Liverpool after nearly nine years at the club.
The Anfield legend is set to depart in an inglorious manner, having gone on a remarkable offensive towards manager Arne Slot after he was left on the bench during Saturday’s 3-3 Premier League draw with Leeds United.
It was the third time in as many matches that Salah had been left on the bench, prompting the Egypt international to rant about “broken promises” and being “thrown under a bus” by the Liverpool hierarchy.
Current ETV
Mohamed Salah
F (CR), M (R)
Liverpool
Mohamed Salah
F (CR), M (R)
Liverpool
ETV Range
€36.1M - €44.1M
This was just a breaking point, though. Salah’s time at Liverpool has, in truth, been winding down for over a year – and it’s been staring us all in the face.
Here’s how we got to the current position.
Salah announces he is ‘more out than in’
25 November, 2024
Liverpool allowed Salah to go into the 2024/25 season in the last year of his deal at Anfield, which led to transfer rumours inevitably dogging him for the majority of the campaign.
To his credit, the forward did not let it bother him. He produced the most remarkable individual Premier League season in history to score 29 and create 18 goals as he fired Liverpool to title success under Arne Slot.
But after a 3-2 win over Southampton, he dropped a bombshell.
“Well, we are almost in December and I haven't received any offers yet to stay in the club," the 32-year-old told NBC Sports after the match at St Mary's. “I'm probably more out than in.
“You know I have been in the club for many years. There is no club like this. But in the end it is not in my hands. As I said before, it is December and I haven't received anything yet about my future.
“I love the fans. The fans love me. In the end it is not in my hands or the fans' hands. Let's wait and see.”
29 December, 2024
Liverpool shrugged off these comments and continued to march on, but the contract issue continued to be a niggle that would not go away.
Salah again spoke about it after Liverpool dismantled West Ham United 5-0 shortly after Christmas.
STATS
Mohamed Salah
F (CR), M (R)
Liverpool
Mohamed Salah
F (CR), M (R)
Liverpool
“We’re far away from that,” he told Sky Sports after being asked if there had been any progress towards a new deal.
“I don't want to put something in the media and people start saying stuff, but nothing really has moved on.
“Now I am focused on the team and hopefully we win the Premier League.”
’It’s the last six months’
3 January, 2025
Were Salah’s comments a power move designed to force Liverpool into improving his conditions? It’s unclear, but around the turn of the year, he appeared in the media again, ramping up demands on the board to offer him a new deal as he dropped another spectacular revelation.
Asked in an interview with Sky Sports if he really believed this would be his last season with the club, he replied: “It’s the last six months.
“There is no progress on a new contract. We’re far away from any progress. So, we just need to wait and see.”
Saudi interest ramps up
15 January, 2025
News breaks that the Saudi Pro League is willing to make Salah an “unprecedented” offer that would make him “the highest-paid player on the planet”, outstripping the €200m per season wage Cristiano Ronaldo is on at Al-Nassr.
18 January, 2025
Saudi pundit Khaled Al-Shenaif, who works for the KSA Sports channel, claims that Salah will sign for Al-Hilal as a replacement for Neymar.
“According to the information we have, Al-Hilal president Fahad bin Nafel and [Pro League vice chairman] Saad Al Lazeez are currently in London to finalise the signings of a 2003-born player and Mohamed Salah,” Al-Shenaif said.
“Salah is 99 per cent an Al-Hilal player, while Virgil van Dijk is very close. Everything has been agreed upon; the only thing left is for both players to sign. This transfer will take place over the summer, before the Club World Cup.”
30 January, 2025
Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal tells Piers Morgan: “It’d be a privilege to see Mo Salah here. He's the most high-profile Muslim player in the world. He’s one of the best two or three players in the world.”
11 February, 2025
Al-Hilal head coach Jorge Jesus says that he would love to work with Salah.
"I would like to have Salah at Al-Hilal, he has a way of playing that fits the team," Jesus said.
Liverpool announce new Salah contract
11 April, 2025
While the Saudi rumours were bubbling, Liverpool were making progress on a new deal for Salah in the background. By April, the Anfield side were celebrating a new two-year contract for Salah that flew in the face of his comments earlier in the season.
Salah told the club’s official website: “Of course I’m very excited. We have a great team now. Before also we had a great team. But I signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies and enjoy my football.
“It’s great, I had my best years here. I played eight years, hopefully it’s going to be 10. Enjoying my life here, enjoying my football. I had the best years in my career.
“I would like to say to [the fans], I am very, very happy to be here. I signed here because I believe we can win a lot of big trophies together. Keep supporting us and we’ll give it our best, and hopefully in the future we’re going to win more trophies.”
Salah was staying at Liverpool until 2027. Or was he?
Door left open for Saudi move
26 May, 2025
Little over a month after signing his new deal, Salah made a surprising admission: he was still close to the people in Saudi.
Speaking to On Sport, he admitted: “I thought there was a good opportunity to join the Saudi League. I believed I might go there if I didn’t renew my contract with Liverpool.
“My relationship with people there [in Saudi Arabia] is still good and ongoing. There were serious negotiations to sign me.”
He did stress that he wanted to stay at Liverpool for the fans, but there was no suggestion he was closing the possibility to Saudi in a firm manner.
3 July, 2025
Liverpool club-mate Diogo Jota tragically dies in a car accident.
Salah has not publicly commented on how this incident has affected him personally, but Andy Robertson and Arne Slot have both spoken about how the players have been affected by the issue.
Speaking in December 2025, Slot told Sky Sports: “It is completely different than what's usual when you grieve. It's usually either someone's family or relative or a friend of yours, and then you come to your work and that's the place to forget the grief. And now that is the opposite.”
4 August, 2026
FootballTransfers exclusively reports that Salah is ready to leave Liverpool in 2026 – one year before the end of his current deal.
His likely destination? The Saudi Pro League, of course.
Things unravel at Liverpool
24 October, 2025
Salah did not start the 2025/26 season in anything like his previous form and by October – just six months after signing a new deal – was surprisingly dropped to the bench for a Champions League clash against Eintracht Frankfurt.
“The last thing I worry about is Mo scoring goals again. He's done that his entire life and I expect him to do that again in the upcoming weeks and months,” the manager said.
30 November, 2025
Salah is benched for a Premier League clash against West Ham, which Liverpool won 2-0. This comes after a staggering run in which they have lost six of seven in the league, almost certainly surrendering any chance of defending their title.
“Mo has had an unbelievable career and will have a very good future at this club because he’s such a special player. But when you have four games in 10 days then you have to decide once in a while on a certain lineup,” Slot said.
“The way West Ham set up with a full-back that’s constantly high and a winger who’s inside, I thought this would help the team.”
3 December, 2025
Former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp says that he believes Salah’s relationship with Arne Slot is at “breaking point” after the attacker is left out of a 1-1 draw against Sunderland at Anfield.
6 December, 2025
Benched for a third successive Premier League game and not used at all as Liverpool draw 3-3 with Leeds United, Salah loses it.
Speaking in the mixed zone after the game, Salah tells the media: “I have said many times before that I have a good relationship with the coach. Suddenly, we don't have a relationship. I don't know why.
“It's not acceptable to me, to be honest. I don't know why it always happens to me. 'We throw Mo under the bus, because he's the problem.' I don't think I'm the problem.
The club made a lot of promises this summer, so far, I've been benched three games in a row. You can't say they've kept their promises.
- Mohamed Salah“To me, it seems like someone doesn't want me at the club. This club has always supported my children. I love the club so much. I always will.
“We'll see what happens, in my mind, I'm going to enjoy it anyway, because I don't know what's going to happen [in January]. The game will be at Anfield, so that will be my goodbye before I go to AFCON.
“The club made a lot of promises this summer, so far, I've been benched three games in a row. You can't say they've kept their promises.”
8 December, 2025
Despite taking part in Liverpool training on Sunday and Monday following his outburst, Salah was omitted from the Reds' travelling party for their Champions League clash with Inter in Milan.
The decision to leave Salah on Merseyside was reportedly taken by Liverpool's board rather than Slot, although surely with the full backing of the coach. The club wanted to send a clear message to the Egyptian that he is fighting a losing battle if he is trying to get Slot sacked.
Nevertheless, Liverpool insist that this situation is not unsalvageable. This is seen as a temporary measure, and the Reds are not actively looking to sell Salah.
