Liverpool legend John Barnes believes it’s the right time for Mohamed Salah to leave Anfield this summer – and it would have been better if the Egypt star had gone even earlier.
Salah’s sorry farewell continued in the FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Manchester City on Saturday when he had a penalty saved as Arne Slot’s side were thrashed 4-0 at the Etihad.
The 33-year-old confirmed last month that he will leave Liverpool after nine years at the end of the season, but his future had been in doubt following his outspoken comments about the club and Slot after a game at Leeds in December.
Barnes feels it would have made more sense for Salah to go then, and agrees that a parting of the ways this summer is best. The former Chelsea and Roma player is on course for his worst return in a season for Liverpool after scoring 10 goals in 35 games ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final away to Paris Saint-Germain.
‘I think it probably is the right time, mainly because of the way the season’s gone and what he’s been able to give,’ says Barnes. ‘I thought it would have been at the end of last year, which for me would have been a better time for both parties.
‘Those comments weren’t helpful and it probably is the right time, because from the perspective of wanting to be competitive, Liverpool need players who are competitive week in, week out from a physical point of view, particularly if you are the highest earner.’
John Barnes belives the decision for Mohamed Salah to leave Liverpool came at the right time
The Liverpool winger will leave Anfiled after nine years come the end of the current season
Salah’s status as a guaranteed starter has been under threat since Liverpool signed Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz last summer, but Barnes believes the club had to plan for the future with Salah set to turn 34 in June.
Speaking to OLBG, he added: ‘The problem for Salah is the problem for everybody. You get to 34-years-old and this happens.
‘If those players didn’t come in, I don’t necessarily feel that Mo would still have been scoring 25 or 30 goals. What would have happened is the focus in terms of the way we played would probably have been towards Mo a bit more, given what Wirtz and Ekitike are doing.
‘But that’s not to say that Mo would have done what he did in the last two or three years. I think they needed to sign those players, because you’re going to miss out on them. If they hadn’t signed them, those players could have gone elsewhere, and then what do you do the following year?
‘In terms of what Liverpool did, when the opportunity comes to sign the right players, you sign them. I think they obviously were after Isak, the Ekitike thing came out of the blue, and because they’d gone all the way down the line to sign Isak, by the time Ekitike came up they had to take him too.
‘So maybe you can say, would they have needed both of them? Had they got Isak first, I don’t think they would have gone for Ekitike. I won’t say they overspent and bought too many players. However, it’s going to take time for all of those players to gel.’
Despite the problems Salah has experienced in his final season, Barnes is in no doubt that Liverpool’s No.11 deserves a place among the pantheon of Anfield greats.
‘He’s up there with the best of them,’ says the 62-year-old. ‘You can talk about Steven Gerrard, you can go back to Kevin Keegan, you can go back to Ian Callaghan. It’s a generational thing.
‘If you look at a 10-year period from the 50s with Billy Liddell, then Ian St John or Roger Hunt in the 60s, Kevin Keegan in the seventies, myself in the eighties, Gerrard.
‘I think Mo will be right up there with them. I don’t do rankings, No.1, No.2, No.3 because that’s silly.
‘He’s not necessarily better than Ian Callaghan, who played in the 60s, or Billy Liddell. But in terms of the top players at Liverpool, 100 per cent he’s up there.’
