'He should be able to speak!' - Florian Wirtz reveals why he 'liked' Mohamed Salah Instagram post that aimed veiled dig at Liverpool boss Arne Slot

Published May. 23, 2026 8:40 a.m. ET

GOAL

Dissenting squad backs departing icon

Wirtz was among a dozen members of the senior squad to publicly endorse

Wirtz defends teammate's viral commentary

Reflecting on the social media storm during a dinner with teammates,

"He says what he thinks. This should be OK. If you want to speak, you should be able to speak. Of course, it was a bit of a difficult season for all of us, including Mo. In my opinion, it got made bigger than it was. I don’t think he attacked anyone.”

Midfielder dismisses coaching staff rift

Despite widespread media assumptions that the squad were actively siding with Salah against their Dutch head coach, Wirtz maintained that the interaction reflected professional respect rather than institutional mutiny.

Wirtz added: “No, nothing like that. I like Mo’s mentality in general - how he sees things, how he works. He’s a guy you can listen to, because he has seen a lot. He wasn’t attacking anyone. With the ‘likes’ players gave, I think it was made too big.

"For me, it was just a thing that he wanted to say because he’s leaving. He wanted to make everyone in the club alert that we have to work more and do better. We are all anything but happy with this season.

"I think we can still make a little bit out of it by qualifying for the Champions League on Sunday. We have to do that. Then in the summer, we need to clear our heads and attack next season, because we have a very good squad and we can do much better.”