The key words from Mo Salah’s bombshell interview were” I have been thrown under the bus”. “Somebody wants me out of the club,” Salah’s interview has added another layer of pressure on Liverpool manager Arne Slot and the entire club, with many calling it a betrayal.
After Liverpool’s poor 3-3 draw at Elland Road against Leeds United on Saturday, Salah revealed his frustrations with the media.
This is what he said;
“I can’t believe … I’m sitting on the bench for 90 minutes. The third time on the bench, I think for the first time in my career, I’m very, very disappointed. I have done so much for this club down the years, and especially last season. Now I’m sitting on the bench, and I don’t know why.
“It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That is how I am feeling. I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame.”
“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.
“This club, I always support it. My kids will always support it. I love the club so much, I will always do. I called my mum yesterday – you guys [journalists] didn’t know if I would start or not, but I knew. Yesterday I said [to my mum]: ‘Come to the Brighton game. I don’t know if I am going to play or not but I am going to enjoy it.’ In my head, I’m going to enjoy that game because I don’t know what is going to happen now. I will be in Anfield to say goodbye to the fans and go to the Africa Cup. I don’t know what is going to happen when I am there.”
“In football, you never know. I don’t accept this situation. I have done so much for this club.”
“I got a lot of promises, and so far I am on the bench for three games, so I can’t say they have kept the promise”. It is not acceptable to me. I don’t know why this is happening to me. I don’t get it. I think if this were somewhere else, every club would protect its player. How I see it now is like: ‘You throw Mo under the bus because he is the problem in the team now.’ But I don’t think I am the problem. I have done so much for this club”.
“The respect, I want to get. I don’t have to go every day fighting for my position because I earned it. I am not bigger than anyone, but I earned my position. It’s football. It is what it is. I am the top goal scorer, best player, winning the league in such a style, but I am the one who has to defend myself in front of the media and fans.
“After what I have done for the club, it really hurts. You can imagine, really. After going from home to the club and you don’t know if you are starting. I know the club too well; I have been here many years. Tomorrow [the Sky pundit Jamie] Carragher is going to go for me again and again, and that’s fine.”
“I have been at this club, scoring more than anyone in this generation, since I came to the Premier League. If I was somewhere else, everybody would go to the media and defend the players. I am the only one in this situation. Can I give an example?
“It’s silly, but I am sorry. I remember a while ago, Harry Kane was not scoring for 10 games, and everyone in the media was like: ‘Oh, Harry will score for sure.’ When it comes to Mo, everyone is like: ‘He needs to be on the bench.’”
“I don’t want to answer this question “because the club is going to take me to a different direction.”
“Imagine how bad I feel that I have to answer it, honestly. That hurts, even the question hurts. This club, signing for this club, I will never regret it. I thought I was going to renew here and end my career here, but this is not according to the plan, so I’m not regretting signing for the club for sure.
“Somehow it will end, but the thing in my head is like: ‘Why should it end this way?’ Because I am too fit, just five months ago I was just winning every individual award, so why should it go this direction?”
Mohamed Salah has been linked heavily to the Saudi PRO League, and it looks likely that he will leave Liverpool in the imminent January transfer window.
