Neville: Salah is using Liverpool as a ‘stepping stone’ to the top

Joe Williams

Mohamed Salah is using Liverpool as a “stepping stone” as he looks to reach the “pinnacle” of football at Real Madrid or Barcelona, according to Gary Neville.

The Egyptian has scored 90 goals in 140 appearances since joining Liverpool from Roma back in 2017.

Liverpool are defending Champions League title holders, while they have blazed a 22-point lead at the top of the Premier League but Neville reckons Salah still wants to another “big move”.

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“It’s never easy to replace a player like that,” Neville said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.

“I said 18 months ago I thought Mo Salah would leave Liverpool.

“I think it’s a little bit more simple in the sense of why Liverpool fans maybe don’t demonstrate that love for Salah, and it’s affinity and loyalty.

“I think there’s a feeling that he wants to go and play at Real Madrid, he’ll go to Barcelona, he’ll take the big move.

“That’s not a criticism of Mo Salah. I played with David Beckham, I played with Ruud van Nistelrooy, played with Cristiano Ronaldo – they wanted to aspire to win the Ballon d’Or, they wanted to be at Real Madrid, they wanted to be up in lights and play at the biggest clubs in the world.

“I think there’s a feeling, affinity, loyalty, ‘will he leave us?’, I think he could.

“I think he is ultimately using Liverpool potentially as a stepping stone for his career.

“He has aspirations to be [higher]. Let’s be honest, Real Madrid and Barcelona for a lot of players are the pinnacle.

“When a player maybe doesn’t celebrate other players’ goals or is popular in the team, when a player looks selfish and doesn’t pass to his team-mates when you’ve got a spirit like Liverpool have got, again those things just erode a little bit of confidence in the fans.

“Some players just aren’t naturally as popular as others purely because of the fact they are a little bit more selfish.

“Salah would be upset I think if a team won 2-0 and he missed two chances and didn’t score.”

 

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