‘If I speak today, there will be fire.’
That was Mohamed Salah’s warning, delivered after the penultimate away trip of the Jurgen Klopp era. He was referring to an on-pitch spat with his manager that, had the German not been leaving the club a fortnight later, might have had much more dramatic consequences.
And with those nine syllables, Salah managed to generate more headlines than most Premier League players do in a career. That is the weight Salah’s words carry. He has only spoken to the written media a handful of times in his nine years at the club, meaning most of his interviews are with rights-holders who are keen not to upset anyone and usually play it straight with anodyne questions.
Yet on the few occasions I have spoken to Salah in my time covering Liverpool, there have always been fireworks, to paraphrase the man himself. Be it calls from Egyptian TV channels who cover every slight against him like a government scandal, or the frenzied reaction of fans here in the UK, Salah is a huge story.
So when he trundled through the mixed zone at West Ham back in spring 2024 and promised ‘fire’, we knew he had a problem. They’re friends again now, of course, but it would have been interesting to see how the Klopp-Salah dynamic continued had the German not departed.
Fast forward six months or so and another quote went around the world in seconds, when Salah told us he was ‘more out than in’ in terms of signing a potential new contract. But, in hindsight, these episodes were merely an appetiser for his bombshell interview at Leeds’ Elland Road last December. After a dramatic draw where Salah was on the substitutes’ bench – not for the first time – the Egyptian lit the fuse.
Mohamed Salah’s bombshell outburst at Elland Road last December spelled the end for his time at Liverpool and sparked a civil war with Arne Slot (left)
In a small area with bizarre fluorescent lights that made it feel like a nightclub, around 10 journalists assembled. Salah made eye contact with some familiar faces who had been bugging him for an interview for months (requests are always politely declined).
He trudged over and told reporters that Liverpool had thrown him ‘under the bus’, that he had ‘no relationship’ with boss Arne Slot and that someone in the club clearly did not want him there.
It was an explosive interview that went round the world in seconds. The faces of some hardened hacks will never be forgotten as they returned to the media room looking like they had just come home from months at war.
War was a fitting word, too, for what followed. Civil war at Liverpool? That was how it was sold and even though some at the club might have thought that was too strong, it certainly felt true. Here was a star player going head-to-head, publicly, with his manager.
At the time, Slot was under pressure from fans – though it was nothing like the abuse he gets now. The incident at Elland Road is often forgotten about but it was a seminal moment in Liverpool’s season and also a time when trust in Slot faded as supporters were forced to pick a side in the fight.
Salah was dropped for the trip to Inter Milan the following midweek and instead stayed on Merseyside working hard in the gym while his team-mates grinded out a well-earned 1-0 victory in San Siro, one of their most complete performances of the season.
On the Friday, Salah and Slot had a short conversation where they agreed to put their differences aside – at least publicly – and carry on with the season. The Egyptian was back in the squad the next day for a win over Brighton and that, they hoped, was that.
But privately, Salah remained aggrieved at Slot and others at the club. He asked his long-term agent and ally Ramy Abbas to begin the process of finding a new team for him, and to end his long association with Liverpool.
Salah and his long-time agent Ramy Abbas (left)
Salah was dropped for a few weeks but he and Slot agreed to put their differences to one side until the end of the season
Abbas has been by Salah’s side since he was at Chelsea. A Dubai-based lawyer with a Lebanese father, the Colombian-born agent studied at the University of Leicester and lived in the city of Cali at the height of the South American country’s drug war. He’s a man of the world, in every sense.
His footballing journey began in 2003 when he worked as a translator for a Colombian player who moved to Abu Dhabi club Al Jazira. Tragically, the client, Elson Becerra, was shot dead in a Colombian nightclub aged just 27. Abbas registered himself as an agent and helped South American footballers around the world, which led him to watch Basel when Salah was playing for them. It was not until several years later, though, that the pair had a chance meeting.
The story goes that Abbas, who was in a team hotel with Chelsea’s Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado, was called over by Salah to check over a contract from Fiorentina, who he was set to join on loan.
In the offer from the Italian club, there was a clause that the they could trigger a five-year permanent deal if he performed well (which he most certainly did). But Salah didn’t want the clause. It took power away from him.
Abbas added a new paragraph and made it a six-month straight loan that would not see him locked into a five-year agreement. It was the start of a working relationship that continued, with several new deals at Liverpool and hundreds more commercial tie-ins.
When Al-Ittihad offered £150million for Salah’s services in summer 2023, the pair considered it. At one point, it seemed highly possible that the Egyptian would indeed leave. The fact a tangible bid came so late in the window put paid to that, though.
There were also offers to leave last year when his contract saga dragged on and on but Salah’s No 1 priority was always to extend at Liverpool, a club he had grown to love, with his family settled in the area.
But this time felt real. After a fall-out with several key figures at the club, when Salah met Abbas in December it was clear he was not going to change his mind and the pair informed Liverpool as much. They all agreed to let him depart on a free transfer.
When Salah met Abbas in December it was clear he was not going to change his mind and the pair informed Liverpool as much. They all agreed to let him depart on a free transfer
According to sources in Egypt, Salah feels deeply upset by how this has played out. ‘Just you wait until his first interview,’ said one, referring to the fact the player feels he has been harshly treated when considering how much he has given to Liverpool over the last decade.
Slot is not the first figure Salah has had a love-hate relationship with. Sadio Mane, the Senegal forward signed from Southampton a year before Salah joined, is another with whom the Reds forward did not always see eye to eye – though the ‘rivalry’ was more competitive than anything, the dynamic spurring both players on.
‘I was always talking to him (Mane), giving advice, trying to calm him down,’ wrote Roberto Firmino in his autobiography Si Senor. ‘I would tell him to find peace, play for the team, and stay relaxed.
‘I knew those guys very well, maybe better than anyone. It was me out there on the field, right in the middle of them. I saw first-hand the looks, the grimaces, the body language, the dissatisfaction when one was mad at the other. I could feel it. I was the link between them in our attacking play – and the firefighter. My instinct and my duty was to defuse the situation between them. Pour water on the fire – never petrol.’
So back to those comments in December that plunged the club into civil war. Whose side are you on? One camp would claim that Salah was selfish, another that he was right to call out those above him. He is the main man, after all.
There is no doubt that Salah’s levels this season have been far below what we’ve come to expect from him. Equally, his usual numbers are so impressive that this term feels much worse than it looks on paper. Even in this torrid campaign for nearly everyone at the club, the Egyptian has still scored 12 goals and assisted nine more.
Salah feels that standards have been allowed to slip in the last 12 months and he is worried that he will leave a leadership vacuum behind. Some might say that is arrogant but, really, for a player of this stature, why wouldn’t he feel that way?
He thinks that when himself and Andy Robertson – and maybe Alisson and a few others – depart in the summer, there will not be the experienced example-setters in the training ground to push everyone to do better.
Salah feels that standards have been allowed to slip in the last 12 months and he is worried that he will leave a leadership vacuum behind
He thinks that when himself and Andy Robertson depart in the summer, there will not be the experienced example-setters in the training ground to push everyone to do better
What Slot and Co maybe do not realise is that Salah will be missed for much more than his contribution on the pitch.
‘Salah made us dream, and we were willing to do anything to keep this dream alive, and here it is, lasting for nine years,’ says Ismael Mahmoud, an expert on Salah’s career who has followed it closely from Egypt.
‘We followed his career, his successes, Liverpool’s championships, updates on his future over the past years, contract renewal negotiations, his relationship with Mane, disagreement with Klopp, all the way to his rift with Slot which ultimately led to his departure.
‘He’s a national hero in Egypt. He’s an inspiration to many, a role model for millions. He is appreciated in the best way possible. To be honest, there has been some criticism from a few people regarding certain actions in recent years, but those are personal matters.
‘The vast majority appreciate Salah in the best way, they love him. He is the hero of the people, the one who made Egyptians dream. He represents hope in Egypt… not just in Egypt, but in all Arab countries.
‘All the kids now say, “We want to be like Mo Salah”. Before Salah, parents in Egypt didn’t really like their children playing football, because they would get distracted from their studies. Even my own mum and dad did that with me when I was young!
‘But now, because of Salah, all parents encourage their kids to play. They want them to be like the hero they watch scoring in the strongest league in the world every week.
‘The idea that a player from a small village can reach global stardom is the best thing Salah did for these kids – he created an ambitious Egyptian generation.’
‘The idea that a player from a small village can reach global stardom is the best thing Salah did for these kids – he created an ambitious Egyptian generation’
The Egyptian King ends his Liverpool reign as one of the very best players in the history of this storied club
Salah currently has a long list of offers from clubs around the world and wants to make a final decision before the World Cup.
For now, he is focused on a fitting farewell to Liverpool. At Anfield last Saturday before the home game against Chelsea, he walked up and down the touchline before the match taking pictures with fans, and even personally sought out a few for hugs and selfies. He also went to see Sean Cox, the superfan who suffered brain injuries after an unprovoked assault ahead of a Champions League semi-final against Roma in April 2018.
Clearly, whichever club tempts Salah this summer will be getting a superstar and a wonderful human being. The big regret for Liverpool is that, without the fallout, he still had plenty to give in a Reds shirt – though it might be the right time for all parties to say goodbye now.
His has been a breathtaking journey, one that started on that rickety bus ride from Nagrig to Cairo and ended with being thrown ‘under the bus’. But let’s not dwell on that, and instead remember the glorious eight years that came before it. It has been quite the era – and the Egyptian King ends his reign as one of the very best players in the history of this storied club.
