Gerrard advises Salah to leave Liverpool on better terms
Steven Gerrard has disclosed that he advised Mohamed Salah against departing Liverpool on bad terms following the Egyptian’s public dispute with manager Arne Slot in December, reports BritPanorama.
The former Reds captain, speaking to The Overlap, expressed his view that Salah’s forthcoming exit from Anfield serves everyone’s interests. “I think it’s in everyone’s best interests. I think the timing is right in my opinion,” Gerrard stated.
The 33-year-old winger confirmed last week that he would be leaving the Premier League champions when the current campaign concludes, ending a nine-year spell at the club.
Gerrard believes Salah will come to regret the interview in which he accused Liverpool of throwing him “under the bus” and claimed his relationship with Slot had broken down. “I spoke to him around that interview at the time and sort of said to him ‘don’t do what you’ve done and go under a cloud’. I spoke to him direct,” Gerrard revealed.
The pair maintain occasional contact via text message, though Gerrard acknowledged they are not particularly close. Despite the limited nature of their relationship, Gerrard felt compelled to offer guidance to the forward who ranks as Liverpool’s third-highest scorer with 255 goals. “You’ve been here for eight or nine years, you’ve come here and got this legacy. Just go on your terms the right way,” he told Salah.
Salah’s form has declined notably this season, with the winger managing just five goals in 22 Premier League appearances. This drop in productivity prompted Slot to leave him out of the starting lineup during a challenging winter for the club. The situation reached boiling point following Liverpool’s dramatic 3-3 draw with Leeds at Elland Road before Christmas, when Salah vented his frustrations in the mixed zone.
“[Salah’s] still a little emotional from the incident. He was sub and in and out of the team at the time. He was upset,” Gerrard observed. The former captain added that it would have been regrettable had Salah simply walked away in January.
Gerrard drew comparisons with his own difficult final years at Anfield, recalling tensions with then-manager Brendan Rodgers towards the end of his 17-year career at the club. “I had a similar thing with Brendan,” he said. “But when I look back at it now, I’m out of the game and less emotional, you understand it from where Brendan is.”
Having since worked as a manager himself, including dealing with Jermain Defoe’s desire for more playing time at Rangers, Gerrard said he now appreciates both perspectives. “But as a manager, you have to do what’s right and what’s best for the team and if someone is out of form, or not playing, or can’t do the job you’re looking for, as a manager you have to make big decisions.”
As Salah prepares to depart, the landscape at Liverpool reveals the complexities of loyalty and ambition in football, a world where legacy and personal ambitions often collide at inopportune moments.
