Mohamed Salah's farewell tour starts now - but departing legend must rediscover old magic to ensure long Liverpool goodbye doesn't fall flat

There was always a chance that Liverpool would announce a high-profile departure during the international break and, just three days after their latest Premier League setback at Brighton, the Reds confirmed that Mohamed Salah would be leaving at the end of the current campaign. The timing of the announcement surprised some, but Salah had successfully pushed for the news to be made public more than two months before the end of the season in what felt like an obvious attempt to control the narrative surrounding his painful and unexpectedly early exit.

Liverpool were clearly happy to let him go, though, no matter the cost

Head coach Arne Slot will obviously insist he had nothing to do with Salah's premature departure, but there's no denying the breakdown of their relationship was the key factor in the 'Egyptian King's' decision to abdicate his throne.

He may be the third-highest scorer in Liverpool's history but Salah must have realised that he'd picked a fight that he was never going to win, with the Reds remaining steadfast in their support of the manager that had led them to Premier League glory at the first attempt.

Of course, Slot simply wouldn't have won the 2024-25 title without Salah - nor does he have any hope of salvaging the current campaign unless he can somehow get the best out of

Klopp's team?

When things take a turn for the worse for successful sides, the role of the manager inevitably comes under intense scrutiny. Revisionism often takes hold and history can sometimes be rewritten entirely. In the case of Slot, there's actually very real risk of his present predicament casting his past results in an unfavourable light.

Whereas last summer he was being hailed for taking almost exactly the same squad that had finished third under Jurgen Klopp and immediately turning them into champions, now he's having to deal with accusations that he won the league with the German's team. Why? Because having been 'given' £450m to strengthen his squad last summer, Slot has somehow managed to weaken the incredibly solid foundations put in place by his predecessor.

There are obviously a couple of glaring issues with the argument that Slot got lucky; that he was fortunate to inherit a team already ready equipped to at least challenge for the title.

'Amazing job'

For starters, succeeding Klopp as Liverpool manager was considered an impossible job. The 'normal one' had achieved god-like status on Merseyside, having turned doubters into believers. Consequently, plenty of people predicted Slot would suffer the same fate as David Moyes at Manchester United, or Rafael Benitez at Inter, quality coaches utterly crushed by the comparisons to the messiah-like figures that had come before them.

It unquestionably helped that Klopp had the supporters singing Slot's name before he'd even arrived at Anfield, but

"It was a decent group when he took over, but if someone had said at the start of the season that Liverpool would be where they are now, you wouldn't have believed them, you'd have thought they needed locking up!"

Success stories

One of the main reasons why there was such scepticism surrounding Slot's squad was the continued lack of a world-class defensive midfielder. However, the coach made light of the club's failure to get a deal for Martin Zubimendi over the line by helping to transform Ryan Gravenberch into an outstanding No.6 capable of not only protecting the back four, but also quickly turning defence into attack with his wonderful ability to breeze past opponents trying to press him.

The added benefit of deploying his fellow Dutchman in a deeper role also allowed the multi-talented Alexis Mac Allister to make even more of an impact higher up the field with his ball-winning and creative qualities, creating something of a twin-pressing threat along with the indefatigable Dominik Szoboszlai.

Elsewhere, the work done on the training ground with Luis Diaz, coupled with the occasional use of the Colombian as a 'false nine', also resulted in the winger enjoying the most prolific campaign of his career (up until that point), while putting Cody Gakpo in his preferred position on the left wing proved a masterstroke (at least until this season!).

The use and form of Salah, though, was the principal difference between Liverpool and the rest of their title rivals.

Less chaos, more control

Slot's tactics weren't radically different to those of Klopp - which is partly why he was hired. Richard Hughes & Co. correctly surmised that the similarities in style of play would facilitate as smooth a transition as possible from one manager to the other.

However, while the idea was to retain the core principals of Klopp's footballing philosophy, including high-intensity pressing, Slot wanted less chaos and more control, with the idea being that Liverpool could contain opponents with sustained possession. Crucially, Salah was on board from the get-go.

"We are now trying to control the ball all the time,"

However, Salah was especially supportive of the new approach because it offered him more freedom than ever before.

Historic numbers

In the immediate aftermath of the title-clinching win over Tottenham, Salah revealed that he had told Slot before the start of the season that a reduction in his defensive duties would result in an increase in his offensive output.

"I am glad that I did that,"

They were certainly impressive. By the end of the 2025-26 campaign, Salah had equalled the 42-game Premier League record for goals and assists (47) in just 38 outings, and he ended up becoming the first man to complete a clean sweep of the Golden Boot, Playmaker of the Season and Player of the Season awards.

Unfortunately for Salah, this season's numbers do not make for good reading. They're not terrible; Salah has, for example, both more goals and more assists in all competitions than Bukayo Saka. But this is almost certainly going to be the worst single season of Salah's Liverpool career from a purely statistical perspective - and who is to blame for that rather sad fact is open to debate.

Jamie Carragher, for example, has claimed that it "

Indeed, Salah started 13 consecutive games following his return from Africa Cup of Nations duty in January and, having recovered from the minor muscular problem that ruled him out of the Brighton defeat just before the international break, he's now expected to go straight back into the side for Saturday's FA Cup clash with Manchester City.

Scapegoat to saviour?

Truth be told, a daunting trip to the Etihad Stadium feels like the beginning of the end - and not just for Salah, but Slot too.

City may not be the unstoppable force they once were under Pep Guardiola, but few would bet against them beating this rather sad iteration of Liverpool for the third time this term, while Paris Saint-Germain are the heavy favourites going into the first leg of their Champions League rematch with the Reds at Parc des Princes on Wednesday.

Of course, there has been talk that Slot could survive if he manages to hold onto fifth spot in the Premier League - which is a possibility in light of how poorly sixth-placed Chelsea are playing. But Liverpool's form is fluctuating wildly too and their fixture list is far from soft.

Slot will doubtless take encouragement out of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike's decisive displays during the international break - and their burgeoning partnership definitely points to a brighter future - but Salah is unquestionably the key to Liverpool's hopes of finishing this most traumatic of campaigns with a flourish.

Having agreed a temporary truce with Slot for the good of the club, the expectation is that he'll do everything in his waning but still considerable power to ensure that his magical spell on Merseyside ends on a high rather than with a whimper.

Even accounting for this season's surprising slump, Salah remains the Reds' most likely match-winner when it matters most, the biggest of Liverpool's big-game players, and it's well worth remembering that some of his most memorable and important goals and assists have arrived against City.

Just last year, in fact, Salah effectively won Liverpool the league at the Etihad. Rather ironically, Slot now needs the Reds' scapegoat to save their season - and his job too.