2026-04-02 11:17:43

Steven Gerrard thinks Mohamed Salah’s departure from Liverpool is in “everyone’s best interests”.

It was announced last month that the Egyptian forward’s spell at Anfield will come to an end this summer and the former Reds skipper feels that the timing of his exit is right amid rumoured tensions with manager Arne Slot.

Gerrard told the Stick to Football podcast: “I think the timing is right.

“He’s obviously had a disagreement with the manager. I don’t know at what level but he’s done the interview which I think he’ll regret further down the line.

“That told me there was an issue there. I think also, even going back before that, Liverpool as a football club only wanted to give Mo Salah one year (when he signed a new deal last season).

“Rather than the two, but because he had such an outstanding season and his numbers were great, they have given him a two-year [contract].

“I only ever saw it as a one-year at that level. We’ve all played in those years and I just think for everyone, it’s in everyone’s [best] interest for it to end, but also end on Mo Salah’s terms.”

Salah claimed that he felt as if he had been “thrown under the bus” by the club following the Premier League game against Leeds in December and Gerrard revealed that he contacted the player at the time to urge him not to end his Liverpool career “under a cloud”.

The former England midfielder said: “I spoke to him around that interview at the time and sort of said to him, ‘Don’t do what you’ve done and go under a cloud.’ I spoke to him directly.

“He texts me now and again, or I text him, more to do if I’m going somewhere with [Gerrard’s son] Leo. Just so Leo can see him.

“I’m not close to him, but it gave me the opportunity to say, ‘You’ve been here for eight or nine years, you’ve come here and got this legacy. Just go on your terms the right way.’

“He is still a little emotional from the incident. He was a substitute, in and out of the team at the time. He was upset. But I just thought it would have been a shame if he’d left (for the Africa Cup of Nations) in January and just left.

“I understand both sides of it now that I’ve done a bit of managing myself.”

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