Monday, November 25, 2024, 16:29
The future of Mohamed Salah is the only shadow that affects the splendid moment that Liverpool is going through. After nine campaigns under the aegis of Jürgen Klopp that returned the ‘reds’ to the top with the conquest of a Premier and a Champions League, among other titles, the arrival of the Dutchman Arne Slot to the bench has revitalized the British team. Sixteen victories in the eighteen games played to date summarize the powerful start to the season that has been achieved by a squad that has imposed a martial pace in both the Premier and the Champions League. In this dazzling opening of the course, the figure of the Egyptian winger has played a fundamental role. Author of twelve goals and ten assists, Pharaoh is the victim of a curse with Real Madrid that he intends to break up after stirring up the fears of his parish.
«We are almost in December and I have not yet received any offer to continue at the club. “I’m probably more outside than inside,” said Salah after becoming the main architect of Liverpool’s comeback at Southampton’s home on Sunday. A double from the African served to extinguish the rebellion of the bottom of the Premier League, which went 2-1 but committed harakiri in the final stretch and ended up being a victim of the predatory ability of the great star of the ‘reds’.
Salah has been listening to the siren song of Saudi football for some time and, at 32 years old, seems to be leaning towards leaving the club he joined seven years ago from Roma. «It is my last year with Liverpool. I just want to enjoy it and not think about it,” the Egyptian, whose contract expires next summer, had already pointed out at the beginning of this season. A soap opera that experienced another episode after that long-suffering victory over Southampton with some statements that reveal the footballer’s discontent towards the entity that pays him.
A practicing Muslim, Salah has always been in the crosshairs of Saudi Arabia, which tempted him two years ago with an offer of 200 million euros from Al Ittihad that fell on deaf ears. The desire for petrodollars does not subside, although the footballer keeps the matter on hold while he leads Liverpool’s offensive machine. «I don’t want to talk about that. Now I am focused with the team. I am very professional. Everyone can see my work ethic. I just try to enjoy my football and I will play at the highest level for as long as possible. I do the best I can because that’s who I am and I try to give everything for myself and for the club. We’ll see what happens next,” he said after reaching ten goals in the Premier League on Sunday, only two less than Haaland.
On a roll
The data puts to rest any doubts about his commitment. Salah has only failed to score or assist in four of the eighteen games he has played with the Reds so far this season and is the fourth player with the most goal contributions in the five major leagues, after Harry Kane, Omar Marmoush and Robert Lewandowski. «I love the fans and the fans love me. In the end it is not in my hands or in those of the fans. Let’s wait and see what happens. I’m not retiring anytime soon, so I’m just playing, focusing on the season and trying to win the Premier League and hopefully the Champions League too. “I’m disappointed, but we’ll see,” argued an attacker who on Wednesday will try to get rid of his thorn against Real Madrid.
Salah has faced the Chamartín team eight times, but has never been able to knock them down. He lost twice against the whites with Roma and succumbed in five of the six confrontations he has fought with them defending Liverpool’s jersey. The 0-0 draw recorded in the quarter-final second leg of the 2020-21 campaign, a waste since Real Madrid had previously won 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu, was the most positive result that Salah achieved.
Along the way, two especially painful scenarios for the Egyptian: the 3-1 defeat in the Champions League final played in kyiv that earned Real Madrid the Thirteenth and from which he had to retire injured after an incident with Sergio Ramos; and the 0-1 that sealed the Whites’ Fourteenth in Paris after nine decisive saves by Courtois, six of them in response to shots from Salah, who will duel with the Belgian again this Wednesday.
