Jamie Carragher doesn’t see Mohamed Salah playing for Liverpool next season but thinks the forward should delay any immediate thoughts about quitting the club in January to secure a fitting Anfield send-off at the end of the season.
Salah appeared to be emotional during what looked like a lap of appreciation after Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Brighton at Anfield as he prepares to go off and represent Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The 33-year-old started on the bench against Brighton but was introduced as a first-half and provided an assist for Hugo Ekitike. It took his tally for goal involvements up to 277 for the Reds in the Premier League, which is more than any other player has managed for a single club.
It remains to be seen whether that is his last contribution for Liverpool but Carragher, who strongly criticised the forward for his claim last week that he had been “thrown under a bus” by manager Arne Slot, urged Salah to put his differences with Slot aside and return from the Africa Cup of Nations at the end of January to preserve his legacy and get the send-off he deserves.
‘I don’t see Salah playing for Liverpool next season’
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Liverpool’s win against Brighton in the Premier League.
“I don’t see Salah playing for Liverpool next season,” Carragher told Monday Night Football.
“The big thing in my mind is whether we are going to see him from now until the end of the season.
“We know he is now going to AFCON and that will finish in mid-January.
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Mohamed Salah returns to play for Liverpool against Brighton.
“It’s obvious he’s got an issue with Arne Slot, and I want to give credit to the manager because he could have easily have said Salah is not involved against Brighton. He could have said, ‘we’ll sort it after AFCON’.
“But no, he thought it was bigger than him and it was about the team and it is more important that Salah was on the bench, and he made a contribution.
“Last week I was giving advice to Salah and his agent and I’m going to do it again because what we saw at the end of the game from Salah was a lap of appreciation. He was a bit emotional and he’s probably not sure whether that’s his last time at Anfield.
“If he’s thinking about moving on I’d urge him to think again because if he was to move on now, the talk is he’d go to the Saudi League, which is talked about over there but nowhere else, except when the transfer window is open.
“Salah is not going to move on from Liverpool and join Real Madrid or Barcelona. It’s the Saudi League.
“Liverpool in the second half of the season, they could get to an FA Cup final or a Champions League final. Could you imagine Salah in Saudi at whatever team he is playing for, watching Liverpool come out in Budapest in a Champions League final?”
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Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk reveals to the media after their 2-0 win at home to Brighton that he has told Mohamed Salah he wants him to stay.
‘He’d regret leaving in January’
Carragher continued: “When you come back at the end of January, you’ll have three months. You might not get on with the manager but you’ll start some games. You’ll be sub in some games and you won’t come on in some games, but what we saw at Anfield at the weekend was nicer than what we saw at Elland Road.
“Does Salah deserve more than that as a Liverpool player? He deserves a guard of honour, he deserves a display in the Kop and he deserves to be able to bring his family onto the pitch. He deserves to be celebrated at his final game for all he’s done as a Liverpool player.
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Sunday Supplement takes a look at the back pages and the fallout from Mohamed Salah’s return to the Liverpool team that beat Brighton at Anfield and asks – has he played his last game for the club?
“Put your differences with the manager to the side and think three or four months at Liverpool. The worst thing that is going to happen is he gets a big send-off. The best thing that could happen is he’s walking out with his team-mates in Budapest in a Champions League final.
“If he’s sat in Saudi Arabia watching Liverpool do that, he’d really regret it.”