MUHAMMaD Salah plunged his future at Liverpool into serious doubt after claiming he had been made the fall guy for the Premier League champions’ disastrous form this season.
In an explosive outburst, Salah spoke to reporters after being left on the bench for Saturday’s 3-3 draw at Leeds, dropping a bombshell accusation that his relationship with Reds manager Arne Slot is broken.
It was the third consecutive game the Egyptian had been axed by Slot, who is struggling for solutions to a run of four wins in 15 games in all competitions for troubled Liverpool.
AFP Sport looks at how the breakdown between the Egypt star and his manager developed and what comes next for both Salah and Liverpool:
Why was Salah dropped?
An undoubted Liverpool legend, only two players have scored more than Salah’s 250 goals for the 20-time English champions.
Salah, who arrived at Anfield from Roma in 2017, was fundamental to two Premier League title triumphs, ending a 30-year wait to become champions in 2020, and winning the Champions League in 2019.
In April, as he played a starring role and led Liverpool to the title in Slot’s debut year last season, Salah was rewarded with a lucrative new two-year contract.
Salah has struggled to match those heights this season, scoring just five times in 19 appearances.
The 33-year-old, who was dropped for Champions League fixtures against Galatasaray and Eintracht Frankfurt, started all of Liverpool’s first 12 league games, but Slot’s patience ran out after a 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest.
Liverpool spent £300 million ($400 million) on forwards Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak in the summer transfer window.
Despite slow starts for Wirtz and Isak, they appear the future for the Reds and Slot has prioritised trying to get them up to speed over the past week.
“I’m sitting on the bench and I don’t know why. It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That’s how I am feeling. I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame,” Salah said.
“I said many times before that I had a good relationship with the manager and all of a sudden, we don’t have any relationship. I don’t know why, but it seems to me, how I see it, that someone doesn’t want me in the club.”
What happens next?
Liverpool were already planning for life without Salah in the short-term as he departs for the Africa Cup of Nations after this week’s matches away to Inter Milan in the Champions League and at home to Brighton.
Salah hinted the Brighton game could be his last at Anfield, if selected, and that he had instructed his family to fly in to witness it.
“I will be in Anfield to say goodbye to the fans and go to Africa Cup of Nations,” he added. “I don’t know what is going to happen when I am there.”
Where could he go?
A move to the Saudi Pro League has long been rumoured as Salah’s next destination.
An icon in the Arab world, his signing would represent another coup for the Gulf state.
The riches of clubs backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund means they are one of the few options that can match or even improve Salah’s current salary as one of the Premier League’s highest-paid players.
Liverpool would also welcome the chance to bank a significant transfer fee after their huge summer outlay.
What does it mean for Slot?
Slot’s credit among the Liverpool support for an amazing first season in charge was already diminishing after a run of just two wins in 10 league games.
His job is not in immediate danger, but the Liverpool hierarchy may be forced to act later in the season if their place in next season’s Champions League is at risk.
Despite a dreadful start, Liverpool, who sit eighth in the table, are only two points outside the top four.
Salah has now ramped up even more pressure on Slot as many fans will take the side of the player hailed on the Kop as the “Egyptian King.”