Mohamed Salah, one of the greatest players in the storied history of Liverpool and undoubtedly the best talent ever produced by Egypt, is at odds with the English giants.
The 33-year-old striker had been benched for three straight Premier League games, then was completely left out of the squad for Liverpool’s Champions League clash against Inter Milan mid-week after his inflammatory comments over the weekend.
“I’m very, very disappointed to be fair,” Salah told reporters. “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.”
Salah was the key to two Premier League-winning Liverpool sides, including last season, when his future with the club was very much in doubt. The two sides agreed to a new deal at the end of last season, but things with manager Arne Slot have grown tense since then.
Liverpool sits in 10th in the Premier League, and Salah feels as though he’s become the scapegoat.
“I got a lot of promises in the summer, and so far I am on the bench for three games, so I can’t say they keep their promise,” he 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.”
As unrest goes, clubs around the world are lining up, specifically in the high-paying Saudi Arabian pro league and the burgeoning Major League Soccer stateside. San Diego FC and the Chicago Fire are two American clubs that have already been linked with Salah.
Red Bull New York is not, nor is it expected to be, one of those interested American parties, a source tells amNewYork. This despite Jurgen Klopp, Salah’s former manager at Liverpool, serving as the head of global soccer for Red Bull GmbH, the conglomerate that owns the New York-based MLS club.
MLS commissioner Don Garber certainly is gung-ho about the prospects of another generational star coming to North America. Over the last three years, teams in his league have signed Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Son Heung-min (LAFC), and Thomas Müller (Vancouver Whitecaps).
“Obviously, if he ever decides to come to Major League Soccer, we’d welcome him with open arms,” Garber said. “I’d say he should reach out to [Messi] and reach out to Thomas Muller and see how happy they’ve been and how successful they’ve been and how much they’ve really embraced being in Major League Soccer.”
Is it realistic for Salah to head to America? Currently, it’s unlikely. He will be offered significantly more money to play in Saudi Arabia, where he would join Cristiano Ronaldo as the face of the league, rather than bending to the financial limitations that come with MLS’s roster construction.
