Mohamed Salah’s Liverpool Farewell: Uncertainty at Anfield

Mohamed Salah’s Liverpool farewell is set for Sunday at Anfield. What nobody can say with certainty is whether he will spend it on the pitch or watching from the bench.

On the eve of Liverpool’s Premier League finale against Brentford, manager Arne Slot refused to guarantee any role for the Egypt forward, whose goals and relentlessness have defined a modern era at the club.

“I never say anything about team selection,” Slot said when pressed on Salah’s involvement. “It would be a surprise to you if I did this right now, I think.”

It was a pointedly neutral answer at a moment loaded with emotion.

A Legend, a Rift, and a Final Act

Salah, 33, has already announced he will leave at the end of the season after agreeing with the club to terminate his contract a year early. Under normal circumstances, Anfield would be preparing for a celebration, a long goodbye for one of its greatest scorers.

These are not normal circumstances.

His form has dipped in his ninth season on Merseyside. The player who once seemed automatic on the teamsheet found himself dropped for a run of games late last year. The decision stung. Salah later told reporters the club “has thrown me under the bus,” a rare, raw public rebuke from a usually guarded star.

That tension flared again last Friday.

After a 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa, Salah went public with his frustration at Liverpool’s style under Slot, calling for a return to the “heavy metal attacking” that once overwhelmed opponents and became a defining identity for the club. The criticism marked his second public clash with the manager this season and instantly shifted the tone around his farewell.

Instead of a smooth send-off, Liverpool now walks into its final league game with a cloud of uncertainty hanging over its most famous No. 11.

Champions League Stakes, Selection Dilemma

All of this plays out against a backdrop of high stakes. Liverpool is still fighting to secure Champions League qualification, and Slot must balance sentiment with necessity.

Does he start Salah in front of a home crowd that has sung his name for nearly a decade, even as the relationship between player and manager frays? Or does he lean fully into his current vision and leave out the club icon who wants a different brand of football?

Slot would not be drawn. He kept his cards close, as he has done throughout his tenure, even with the spotlight burning brighter than ever.

Anfield will say goodbye to Mohamed Salah on Sunday. The only question now is whether that farewell comes with one last roar from the Kop as he attacks the Anfield Road end, or with a final, uneasy glance from the touchline at a club he once carried.