Mohamed Salah's Liverpool Future: A Season at a Crossroads

Mohamed Salah’s Liverpool future, once painted as a closed chapter, has been dragged back into the spotlight – and this time it comes with conditions.

The 2025/26 season has unravelled at Anfield. A feeble defence of their 20th league title, 20 defeats in all competitions, and football that has looked nothing like the high-octane chaos that once defined this team. The mood has turned, and two figures sit at the heart of the storm: Salah and head coach Arne Slot.

A Season Gone Sour

Salah, usually Liverpool’s relentless constant, has seen his form nosedive along with much of the squad. The sharpness, the inevitability in front of goal, the sense that he could drag games his way – all dulled compared to last season.

Slot, meanwhile, has been hammered for his approach. Results have been poor, performances flat. The football has lacked identity, let alone excitement. Criticism has not just come from the stands or pundits’ studios. It has come from inside the dressing room.

Tensions between Salah and Slot have simmered, then boiled. The forward reacted badly to slipping down the pecking order, and the relationship frayed further as the campaign deteriorated. The club’s solution, publicly at least, looked decisive: Salah would leave on a free transfer this summer, a clean break with a legend whose contract still has a year to run but whose era appeared over.

Then came the weekend.

After the defeat to Aston Villa, Salah went public, attacking Slot’s playing style and openly calling for a return to “heavy metal attacking football”. It was a pointed reference, a clear nod to the identity Liverpool have lost and a direct challenge to the man currently in charge of restoring it.

The U-Turn on the U-Turn

All parties had seemingly agreed that a summer exit was the best way forward. Yet, according to The Athletic, the story is no longer so straightforward.

Behind the scenes, the report claims, Salah has shown a willingness to reconsider. The door to staying at Liverpool, thought to be bolted shut, is not completely locked. But it comes with a price.

“Not so long ago, some of Salah’s associates in Egypt were quietly suggesting he had not totally given up on the idea of remaining at Liverpool, despite recent announcements,” the report states.

The condition? A change of regime.

“For that to happen, a regime change would be needed — starting with Slot, but also in conjunction with departures of the directors who have confidence in him but are similarly only a year away from their contracts being finished.”

In other words, Salah might stay, but only if Slot and key decision-makers above him go. It is an extraordinary power dynamic for any club, never mind one run as tightly as Liverpool under FSG.

FSG’s Dilemma

Complicating matters further, there is a split narrative emerging around Slot’s future.

On Monday, a report from TEAMtalk suggested that FSG had themselves made a U-turn, with Salah’s outburst after the Villa defeat “triggering” a rethink. According to that line, four possible replacements for Slot are already under consideration.

Yet Fabrizio Romano painted a very different picture.

“They want to support Arne Slot, believe in Arne Slot,” he said on his YouTube channel.

He acknowledged the scale of the crisis: “There is a sentiment that this season has been too negative for Liverpool in terms of results, 20 defeats, not playing good football. So obviously it’s been a complicated one.”

But he underlined the club’s stance: the owners and management are still the ones calling the shots, and up to this past weekend, Liverpool had not made contact with any alternative coach.

“And the understanding is that so far, till this weekend, Liverpool never reached out to any other coach, Xabi Alonso or any other manager. But at the moment, Liverpool didn’t call Xabi Alonso because they believe in Arne Slot.”

So Liverpool find themselves pulled in two directions. On one side, a club legend, still under contract, still capable of deciding games when in form, apparently open to staying if the hierarchy is reshaped. On the other, owners who, at least publicly, remain committed to a head coach enduring a brutal first full season.

A Club at a Crossroads

This is no simple debate about tactics or transfer policy. It cuts deeper, into what Liverpool want to be in the post-title era.

Do they cling to Salah, reshaping the structure above him to keep their superstar content and try to reawaken the “heavy metal” identity he craves? Or do they double down on Slot, accept the pain of transition, and allow one of the greatest players in the club’s modern history to walk away for nothing?

The numbers on the pitch have already delivered a harsh verdict on this season. The next decision will say far more about the club’s future than the league table ever could.