There are different ways to end a Liverpool career. Steven Gerrard was among the most humiliated, a Champions League-winning captain sent off after a 6-1 defeat by Stoke City. Kenny Dalglish was more emotional as a substitute in a team that had already won the league in 1990.
Dalglish was brought in by the manager – himself – which meant he had two more exits: standing down in 1991 and being sacked in 2012.
Mohamed Salah has argued with Gerrard and Dalglish as part of a trinity.
Three of Liverpool’s great players are mentioned. He is third for goals, behind only Ian Rush and Roger Hunt, with a better goals-per-game ratio than either of them.
In fact, of the Anfield centuries, no one since the Second World War has scored at a faster rate than Salah. As far as assists in previous eras are concerned, Salah ranks fifth – Dalglish and Gerrard top that particular table – and, with at least 40, only Scott and Alan A. Court, who starred in the old Division 2, scored more goals per game.
And this is Salah’s last year, despite a hostile, sometimes furious, season. A man rarely booked has been suspended for Liverpool’s Champions League trip to Inter Milan after saying he had been treated unfairly and had nothing to do with Ernie Slott.
His final appearance, in the 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa, was less notable than the following day’s social media posts. Liverpool, he said, was “disastrous.”
There will be a grand farewell at Anfield on Sunday, with tributes from team-mates past and present pouring in. Nevertheless, it feels as though the celebration of Salat is less than before. With relations strained, Salah has fallen out, and there is a sense that a deal that seemed revolting when signed last year is now a mistake, as he leaves a year before its end.
The Anfield crowd, however, are likely to serenade their Egyptian king one last time. Slott can be forgiven for being more sensitive. Although he was not mentioned by name, he still felt that he was the target of Salah’s social media messages.
But he has spent much of the season praising Salah in public. He has maintained his dignity and demonstrated his diplomacy. “Mo and I both have the same interest; we want the best for this club,” he said. Salah, he claimed, was the unstoppable 2024-25 figure he would remember, not the more unhappy version that appeared of late.
“One hundred percent last season,” Slott said. “I think he said it and he meant it even more when I said it because he won a lot of things at this club; he said the most special thing I won was the Premier League title last season.
“Now I can safely say it was the most special thing I’ve won in my life so I’ll remember him and how important he was to the club this season and the goals he scored for me as a result. We, as a club, as a team, weren’t at the same heights this season but I’ll 100 per cent mainly remember him for last season and the fans should remember that he played for us this season.”
Salah’s last campaign, and his first under the slot, was his best of a brilliant set of eight. He scored 44 in the first, threatening Rush’s club record of 47. But his first year under Slott saw him net 34 goals and 23 assists in all competitions, scoring 29 and creating 18 in the Premier League alone. He was named the best footballer of the year for the third time.
It was Salah whom Jurgen Klopp called an all-time great; whom Trent Alexander-Arnold called relentless to be the best; whom Alisson called one of the most important footballers in Liverpool’s history; and whom Virgil van Dijk called a once-in-a-lifetime player.
This season, as Salah’s powers have waned, as Liverpool have struggled, as he has lost his place in the team, and as his goal tally has dropped to seven in the Premier League and 12 in all competitions, has been atrocious. But while the slot – combined with the club’s hierarchy – left him to express his December dissent, the peacekeeper is unlikely to deny him a farewell and the pragmatist knows Liverpool may need a goal against Brentford.
The winner of Liverpool’s 2019 Champions League final has one final goal: to get only Champions League football. Liverpool must hope Salah’s final game is more like Gerrard’s than Dalglish’s.
But Slott said, “I think that was one of the things Mo said in his post – that he also understands how important qualification is for us for the Champions League.” A 258th goal could be part of his legacy. But if the slot is vacated, Salah’s reign ends there; he will think he is the best of the Egyptians. And for eight years, it was surprisingly excellent.
