Slot wants ‘right decision’ from Salah ‘for him and Liverpool’ as ‘ridiculous’ contract claim dismissed

Jason Soutar
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot, with Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot, with Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot wants Mohamed Salah to make “the right decision for him and hopefully us” as his Reds contract nears its expiry.

Salah has voiced his concerns about the lack of movement over a contract extension and Slot is answering questions about the Egyptian’s future in every single pre-match Premier League press conference.

Arne Slot: We want Mo Salah to stay at Liverpool

His deal expires at the end of the season and as things stand, he will leave Liverpool on a free transfer. The same applies to Trent Alexander-Arnold and club captain Virgil van Dijk.

Salah has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia and the country’s sports minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal, said this week that he would love the Reds superstar in the Saudi Pro League.

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“It would be a surprise if anyone said they didn’t want Mo Salah!” he told a press conference.

“He has done so well for so many years and he has done so well without my advice so he can keep doing what is best for his career.”

Slot was asked about this ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Bournemouth and said interest from elsewhere is not surprising.

“My advice is different to the one you just mentioned (Saudi sports minister). I am not surprised someone wants him.

“He has done so many smart things in his career, so he will make the right decision for him and hopefully us in his career.”

Asked about the futures of Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold, Slot said: “I speak to them a lot. It would be ridiculous if we had never spoken about the future.

“But that is not something I am going to discuss with you.

“It is not only with the three who are out of contract. It’s a non-stop process talking to your players.”

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Liverpool face Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday afternoon, with Andoni Iraola’s side in terrific form.

They have not lost since November 24 and sit seventh in the Premier League, level on points with Chelsea and only one behind Manchester City in fourth.

“It’s a big one,” Slot said. “I knew this already when we played the second half in the home game.

“We were 3-0 up at half-time but they kept on going at us. That showed me the character. Since then they have been outstanding.

“His players work incredibly hard. In a different way to Arsenal, they are a threat at set-pieces. Maybe they deserve higher than the position they are at the moment.”

Slot also praised Liverpool director Richard Hughes – who moved to Anfield in the summer – for his part in helping the Cherries grow.

“He is one of the many examples where Richard deserves credit. But not just Richard, their manager as well.

“You need quality and that is what Richard and his successor brought there. The manager has done a fantastic result.

“I speak to him (Hughes) before every game. We almost speak on a daily basis. I asked him a few things on Bournemouth.

“We have very good people who analyse Bournemouth, I have been doing this myself. The more info you can get, the better it is. My relationship with him is very good, from start until now.

“Justin [Kluivert] is a great talent. Good to see for us because he left Holland quite young. He is only 24 and at this level already.

“He will play another big talent who has grown up at Ajax in Ryan Gravenberch. Interesting match-up.”

Liverpool team news for Bournemouth trip

Slot confirmed Federico Chiesa is now ready to play a full 90 minutes in the Premier League but noted the competition for places on the wings.

“He’s ready for more minutes. If he can play 90 at Champions League, you can play Premier League.

“His main problem is he is competition with [Luis] Diaz, [Cody] Gakpo, [Darwin] Nunez, Salah and [Diogo] Jota. They are doing very well as well. A big compliment to him how hard he worked.”

Slot also confirmed that injury doubts Joe Gomez, Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota have all trained ahead of the trip to the south coast.

Meanwhile, Dominik Szoboszlai, who has struggled for goals and assists, was praised for his work rate by Slot on Friday morning.

“You can never set the bar too high. But he meant he played some really good games. If you played 60 games at a certain level, you can always go a bit lower but not too far.

“This season he has been very consistent in his work-rate. It’s one of the reasons why we do well. It’s what stands out to me from him, compared to many others, to run such an intensity and keep on running.

“He is involved in more dangerous situations and that is something he deserves. I’ve always felt it was a matter of time before he scores goals and gets assists. He should set the standards high because he can hit the standards.”

Slot also commented on the abuse of referee Michael Oliver, who was sent death threats after sending off Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly against Wolves last weekend.

“We all have a responsibility when it comes to this, we are aware of that,” he said. “We have not always been perfect examples but we try to be.

“The good thing in this country is every atmosphere is fantastic, not always that in other countries, England is the first country that has [crowd issues] under control so maybe they can do this now with the referees.

“Social media thing is something we are all aware of and hopefully we can get this in a way where the abuse is not there anymore.”

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