Liverpool reportedly want to keep Mo Salah, despite the Egyptian feeling like ‘somebody doesn’t want him at the club’.
Liverpool reportedly want Mo Salah to stay
Salah placed Liverpool into a difficult position as he claimed the club had ‘thrown him under a bus’.
He said he feels like ‘someone doesn’t want him at the club’ and suggested that next weekend’s Anfield clash with Brighton could be his last game for the Reds.
Despite this, Liverpool “want the forward to stay,” according to journalist David Ornstein on X.
He expanded further for the Athletic, writing: “Sources briefed on the situation, speaking anonymously as they were not authorised to do so publicly, say Salah will not face further disciplinary action for his comments and believe the player and club will benefit from a brief period away from selection.
“Liverpool insist they remain fully committed to Salah and his contract, which runs through until 2027, while maintaining that the current situation is temporary and can still be turned around.
“They are said not currently to be planning for the forward’s exit, nor making plans to use the January transfer window for possible replacements.”
If that is the case and there is no concerted effort to move Salah on, then it makes his public complaints about being dropped seem even more childish.
However, it is worth noting that the club were never going to come out and say they wanted him to leave, even if that were the case.
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Today’s Liverpool FC News
• Despite training with the team, Salah has not been included in Liverpool’s travelling squad to face Inter Milan in the Champions League
• Cody Gakpo, Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo are all absent from squad and training due to injury – we should hear more from Slot at Monday evening’s press conference
• The Athletic‘s James Pearce reports “there was no sense of shock [among Salah’s teammates] when they read his comments” with those around him knowing “that he would publicly vent his anger sooner rather than later”
• A 42-year-old man from London has pleaded guilty to stalking Liverpool Women‘s Marie Hobinger after sending her repeated inappropriate messages and appearing pitchside when the team played away at Man City
More from This Is Anfield
Following another performance against Leeds blighted by individual errors, Sam Millne looked into why Liverpool are conceding more goals than their post-shot xG predicts:
“Across their last 15 matches in all competitions, Liverpool have created 28 xG but have scored just 20 in reality.
“At the other end, they have conceded 20.63 xG but actually let in 28 goals. This suggests Slot himself is facing hard lines, with his forwards failing to put the ball in the net when called upon.
“However, anyone with eyes knows that there is far more wrong with Liverpool than just poor finishing.”
READ: Liverpool are being harmed by individual underperformance – and the stats prove it
Elsewhere in the football world today
• Madrid outlet Marca report that Xabi Alonso will be sacked as Real Madrid manager if they lose at home to Man City on Wednesday – he has won 15 of his 21 games in charge!
• Neymar requires knee surgery after playing through pain to help boyhood club Santos avoid relegation – his place at the World Cup is in doubt, though
• A South Korean woman has been sentenced to four years in prison for blackmailing Son Heung-min, falsely claiming she was pregnant with his child
Liverpool FC: On this day
“Mellor, lovely cushioned header for Gerrard!!!”
It was on December 8, 2004 that Steven Gerrard rescued Liverpool with a late screamer against Olympiacos to get the Reds through the Champions League group stage and set them on their way to Istanbul.
With Liverpool needing to win, they trailed to a Rivaldo free-kick at half time, but an unlikely source of life came off the bench in Florent Sinama Pongolle, who scored the equaliser shortly after the break.
Another Rafa Benitez substitute worked wonders later in the game, as Neil Mellor scored two minutes after coming on in the 78th minute.
Six minutes later, it was Mellor’s header that set Gerrard up to power home a powerful shot in one of the great Anfield moments.