Mohamed Salah's Future at Liverpool: A Call for Change

Mohamed Salah was supposed to be gone. Contract running down, relationship with the head coach fraying, performances dipping. A clean break in the summer, everyone agreed.

Now, not so fast.

According to The Athletic, the Liverpool forward is open to ripping up that script and staying at Anfield – but only if the club tears up part of its own. Any U-turn from Salah comes with a hard condition: a regime change, starting with Arne Slot.

A title defence in ruins

Liverpool’s 2025/26 season has unravelled in brutal fashion. The champions who lifted a 20th league title have barely resembled a defending force. Twenty defeats, poor football, a campaign that has felt joyless and flat. For a club built on intensity, the drop-off has been jarring.

There are reasons, plenty of them. Injuries, fatigue, transition. Yet the glare has fallen on two figures more than most: Salah and Slot.

Salah’s form has fallen off a cliff compared to last year. The goals, the menace, the inevitability – all dulled. Slot, meanwhile, has been hammered for what many see as cautious, uninspiring tactics that suffocate rather than unleash Liverpool’s attacking talent.

The tension between the pair has not stayed behind closed doors. Salah reacted badly when he slipped down the pecking order, and the situation escalated before the club confirmed he would leave on a free transfer this summer. Over the weekend, he went public, criticising Slot’s playing style and openly calling for a return to “heavy metal attacking football”.

For a fanbase raised on chaos and front-foot fury, that line cut deep.

A door that never fully closed

On paper, the situation looked simple. Salah has a year left on his deal, but with the relationship strained and the team in flux, all sides had settled on a summer exit as the cleanest solution.

Behind the scenes, it has been less clear-cut.

The Athletic reports that people close to Salah in Egypt have been quietly suggesting he has not completely abandoned the idea of staying at Liverpool, despite the public narrative of a farewell. The door, it seems, was left slightly ajar.

But not unconditionally.

For Salah to remain, the report states, a “regime change” would be required. That means Slot out, and not just Slot. The directors who backed him – and whose own contracts expire in a year – would also need to depart. In other words, Salah is not just questioning tactics; he is challenging the direction of the football operation.

It is a remarkable power play from a player who has defined Liverpool’s modern era.

FSG’s stance and the Slot question

While Salah’s camp circles one solution, Liverpool’s owners appear to be moving in the opposite direction.

On Monday morning, a report from TEAMtalk claimed that FSG had begun to rethink Slot’s position, with Salah’s outburst after Friday’s defeat to Aston Villa said to have “triggered” a response. Four possible replacements were reportedly under consideration.

Yet the message from those closest to the club’s decision-makers has been very different.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Fabrizio Romano insisted that, as of this weekend, Liverpool’s hierarchy remain behind their head coach.

“They want to support Arne Slot, believe in Arne Slot,” Romano said, before acknowledging the scale of the crisis: a season described internally as “too negative” in terms of results, with 20 defeats and football that has simply not been good enough.

The pressure is real. The frustration is obvious. But the key line from Romano was blunt: the owners and management are still deciding, and up to this point Liverpool have not contacted any alternative coach – not Xabi Alonso, not anyone.

“At the moment, Liverpool didn’t call Xabi Alonso because they believe in Arne Slot,” Romano added.

So the club backs Slot. Salah’s camp, according to reports, would only consider staying if Slot and his main backers go. Something has to give.

A crossroads for club and icon

This is not just a tactical disagreement. It is a clash over identity.

Salah wants the high-octane, front-foot Liverpool that made him a legend and terrified defences across Europe. The current regime has tried something different, and the results have been grim. Now the club’s greatest modern goalscorer is effectively tying his future to a demand for sweeping change at the top.

Liverpool face a stark decision: double down on Slot and a new direction, accepting that it likely means the end of the Salah era, or rip up a project after one disastrous season to appease a superstar who still believes he can be central to the next chapter.

One thing is clear: this is no longer just about one more contract or one more year. It is about who gets to define what Liverpool look like when the dust of this wretched season finally settles.