Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says he told Mohamed Salah earlier this season not to leave the club “under a cloud”.
Salah claimed he had been “thrown under the bus” by Reds boss Arne Slot during an incendiary post-match interview in December after being an unused substitute in a 3-3 draw at Leeds.
It was the third successive Premier League game Salah had started on the bench amid a decline in individual performances and a difficult run of results for the team.
“I spoke to him around that interview at the time and sort of said to him, ‘don’t do what you’ve done and go under a cloud’,” said Gerrard, speaking on The Overlap podcast.
“I spoke to him direct. He texts me now and again, or I text him – more to do with if I’m going somewhere with Lio [Gerrard’s son], just so Lio can see him, really, but I’m not like close to him.
“But it gave me the opportunity to say to him, ‘look, you’ve been here eight, nine years, you’ve been king here, you’ve got this legacy, just go on your terms, the right way’.
“He was still a little bit emotional from the incident. He was in and out of the team at the time, he was upset. I just thought it would be a shame if he left in January and he just left [without a goodbye].”
Since the interview, Salah has played at the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt and returned to the Liverpool fold with Slot insisting the pair’s relationship is “as normal as it’s always been”.
Asked if he was shocked by news of Salah’s imminent departure, Gerrard added: “No, not at all. I think it’s in everyone’s best interests now. I think the timing’s right.
“He’s obviously had a disagreement with the manager. I don’t know at what level. He’s obviously done the interview, which I think he’ll regret further down the line. But that told that there was an issue there.”
Salah has been linked with a move to the Saudi Pro League or Major League Soccer but Gerrard believes he can still compete at the highest level.
“Knowing him, the relationship I’ve got with him, he’ll still have himself down as one of the best players in the world,” he added.
“I think that’s his mentality, and there are good players, top players, and then those ones at the top that are a little bit freakish in terms of their mentality and how they think.
“He’s one of them, where he’s just: I’m the best, I’m the best, I’m the best.”
