Liverpool manager Arne Slot said he is unbothered by suggestions he will be remembered as the “bad guy” behind Mohamed Salah’s decision to leave the club, defending both his decisions last season and his handling of the Egypt international.
Salah, who publicly criticised his place in the team and his relationship with Slot in December after being omitted for three consecutive matches, later reconciled with the manager and resumed a regular starting role. The disagreement, however, is widely regarded as the flashpoint for months of speculation about the forward’s future; Salah has since confirmed he will depart Liverpool at the end of the season.
Asked whether he minded being blamed for Salah’s impending exit, Slot laughed and conceded he felt scapegoated for many of Liverpool’s problems this season. “That’s in general at the moment, isn’t it?” he said, later adding that while he accepts some of his choices could have been better, he did not regret how he handled Salah. “I’m not talking about this specific thing with Mo. I don’t regret many things I did during our one-and-a-half years together, or just longer.”
Slot pushed back strongly on the notion that reduced playing time directly precipitated Salah’s decision. He pointed out that being left out is not unprecedented in Salah’s Liverpool career — recalling a spell in April 2024 when Salah was also not selected for a match — and that the forward subsequently enjoyed a strong season. “The assumption that if he’s not playing then he wants to leave, then he would have left one-and-a-half years ago,” Slot said. “The assumption is that if you don’t play in these games all of a sudden you want to leave. It is an assumption and maybe it is true or maybe it isn’t.”
Slot also warned against speculation about motives and urged patience for an explanation from Salah himself. “The only one who can talk about it is Mo himself,” he said. “I would be surprised if there’s not a moment when Mo shares his thoughts about why he made the decision he made. It’s not up to me to do that.”
The manager dismissed suggestions that Liverpool’s apparent willingness to let Salah leave on a free transfer was evidence of a readiness to part company. “Those are your words,” Slot replied when the possibility was raised. He praised Salah’s contribution to the club and said the forward had earned the right to choose when to move on: “He’s done so many things for this club. He has to make up his own mind and that’s what he did.”
Slot’s remarks come as Liverpool prepare to navigate the rest of the season amid fan frustration and growing scrutiny of the manager’s decisions. For now, both men have publicly moved on from their December rift, but Slot’s comments underscore the unresolved narratives around the end of one of Liverpool’s most successful modern-era player-manager partnerships and the question of whether Salah will, at some point, explain his reasons to supporters and the wider footballing world.