Wayne Rooney Calls for Mohamed Salah's Omission from Final Game

Wayne Rooney has called on Arne Slot to make a brutal statement of authority by leaving Mohamed Salah out of Liverpool’s final game of the season against Brentford, insisting the forward has “publicly disrespected” his manager once too often.

The Manchester United great believes Salah crossed a line with his latest social media post, in which the Egyptian demanded a return to the “heavy metal” football associated with Jurgen Klopp – a message widely read as a direct swipe at Slot’s more controlled approach.

On The Wayne Rooney Show, the former England captain made no attempt to soften his view of one of the Premier League era’s defining forwards.

“I find it sad at the end of what he’s done and what he’s achieved at Liverpool,” Rooney said. “It’s not the point for him to come out and aim another dig at Slot. He wants to play heavy metal football, so he’s basically saying he wants Jurgen Klopp football. Now I don’t think Mo Salah can cope with that type of football anymore. I think his legs have gone to play at that high tempo and high intensity.”

Rooney went further, accusing Salah of detonating a bomb in the dressing room just as he prepares to walk away.

“He's almost just dropped the grenade and said he doesn't trust and believe in Arne Slot and almost thrown his teammates who are going to be there next season and let them have to deal with that as well and put them into a position.”

This is not the first flashpoint. Earlier in the season Salah was dropped after accusing Slot and Liverpool of throwing him “under the bus” over his lack of regular starts. For a player who has delivered 257 goals in a Liverpool shirt and helped drag the club to the top of English and European football, the manner of this final act is jarring.

The numbers on the pitch have dipped as the noise off it has grown. After winning the Premier League title and scoring 29 league goals last season, Salah has just 12 goals in 40 appearances across all competitions this campaign, with Liverpool set to limp home in fifth.

Rooney believes the public outbursts are no coincidence.

“I think Salah's trying to vindicate himself and make himself feel better because he's had a very poor season,” he claimed. “So I think he's been very selfish in what he's done in the two occasions. It's a shame and fans will be on his side, but I think when you look deeper into it and having been in a dressing room in a similar situation to that as well, Mo Salah knows exactly what he's doing.”

For Rooney, this is now about power, not just personality. The dressing room has to know who runs it.

He drew on his own clash with Sir Alex Ferguson, recalling how he was left out of the legendary manager’s final game at Old Trafford after a disagreement. Ferguson, he suggested, understood the value of “pulling rank” when a star player threatened the hierarchy.

“If I was Arne Slot, I’d have him nowhere near the stadium in the last game,” Rooney insisted. “I had it with Alex Ferguson. I had a disagreement and fall out and at Alex Ferguson’s last game at Old Trafford, he left me out of the squad for that reason. That’s your manager. You can’t publicly disrespect him twice the way he has and get away with it.

“And that’s where if I was Arne Slot, I’d have to pull rank and just say, listen, you’re not coming anywhere near the place on Saturday, whether you like it or not. I really doubt he will do it, but I think he should.”

The debate is complicated by sentiment. Salah is not just a goalscorer; he is an era-defining figure for Liverpool, a global icon whose name has been sung from the Kop for years. Rooney accepts that, but refuses to let nostalgia cloud the current reality.

“Of course he deserves a good send off but does he deserve it just for this? It’s the second time he’s done it. It’s just a shame to see one of the great icon of Premier League players leave the Premier League probably in this situation.”

All of this is playing out against a backdrop of a team running out of steam. Liverpool’s title defence has unravelled sharply, the intensity that once suffocated opponents now a shadow of itself. The aura of Anfield has dimmed.

For Rooney, the shift is obvious from the first whistle.

“I think that's the biggest change for me where you go to Anfield, the first thing you want to do is quieten the crowd. But I think actually by Liverpool not pressing they're quietening the crowd down themselves and frustrating the Liverpool fans,” he said. “And so that's the big, big change for me.”

The accusation cuts deep: some players, he suggested, look like they have “downed tools” during this difficult run. In that context, Salah’s public challenge to Slot lands even harder, a senior figure appearing to step away from the collective at the very moment the squad needs unity.

Rooney remains torn on the bigger picture around Slot’s future. A title last season buys time, he argued, even as this campaign has slumped.

“I’m quite split in should he go or should he stay because he won the league last season, I think he deserves a bit more time, in terms of what we’ve seen this season. I don't feel right or good saying this, some players look like they've downed tools and that's a big problem if you see that or you feel that for the manager.”

So Liverpool head into their final game with a dilemma that goes beyond team selection. Does Slot bow to sentiment and give one of the club’s modern greats a farewell on the pitch, or does he take Rooney’s advice and draw a hard line that echoes down the corridor and into next season?

The goals, the memories and the trophies will always belong to Salah. What happens on Saturday will say far more about Slot – and about what kind of Liverpool he intends to build once the dust settles.