Premier League top scorer Mohamed Salah has said he will leave the club along with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk only after they win the top flight again.
The Reds are six points clear of Arsenal with a game in hand at the top of the table in their first season under manager Arne Slott, but focus has increasingly fallen on whether iconic striker Salah, captain Van Dijk and winger Alexander-Arnold will renew their bid after expire at the end of the campaign.
“My motivation this year was to win a trophy and be a big part of winning that trophy – especially the Premier League,” Salah said. Sky Sportsdiscussing the squad assembled by Slott’s predecessor, Jurgen Klopp, whose trophies include the 2018/19 Champions League. and Premier League 2019/20.
“There is still half [that] the team remained as me, Trent, Virgil, Alisson, Robbo [Andy Robertson]. It is imperative that we win one more trophy before we all leave.”
🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Mo Salah confirmed that this is his last season in Liverpool:
🗣️ “I really want to win the Premier League this season because this is my last year at the club. I want to give the city something special.”
(Source: @SkySports ) pic.twitter.com/TmvJXkAlCU
— News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) January 3, 2025
Salah’s contract: No progress
Salah has been Liverpool’s top scorer in every season since joining from Roma in 2017 and has been in sensational form in 2024/25, scoring 20 times and setting up 17 goals in 26 games in all competitions.
The 32-year-old said the circumstances of Liverpool’s last title win, which took place during the Covid pandemic, meant his team “didn’t have time to celebrate it properly”.
“There is no progress,” said Fr the possibility of extending the contract. “We are far from any progress. We just have to wait and see.
— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) January 3, 2025
“The thing in my mind is if this is the last six months, what do you want to see in the future? Do you want to look back and say ‘I was worried or stressed about the contract’?
“Or do you just want to say ‘I had an amazing season’? That’s in my head. If I ever feel distracted, I just remind myself that I want to look back and say I had an amazing season.”
Reporter Patrick Davison, who spoke to Salah, said he believed the Egypt captain “wants to extend his time at Liverpool”.
“During the interview he again said it was his ‘last year’ at the club,” added Davison. “But I believe he doesn’t want that to be the case.”
Egyptian king on top of the world 🌍@MoSalah x @LFC pic.twitter.com/axWpHPhArT
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 1, 2025
Premier League title: Salah ‘wants big numbers’
“I’m really motivated to win the Premier League,” reiterated Salah. “I don’t want to have just a small role. I want to win and then have people say ‘he made the difference and made the team win’.
“Arsenal is catching us. [Fourth-placed] Chelsea is catching us. [Sixth-placed reigning champions] Man City will be back, for sure.
“It’s very difficult, but we just have to stay focused, not take it for granted and keep working hard. I don’t want to get to the end of the season and say ‘I had amazing numbers but the team didn’t win anything’. I just want to win the trophy and have big numbers.”
Salah on Slot: Klopp ‘had one system’
Klopp won every major trophy available during almost nine years at Liverpool before taking a break from management at the end of last season.
Former Feyenoord manager Slot he oversaw 23 wins and one loss in his first 27 games, including wins in all six of Liverpool’s opening Champions League games and three Carabao Cup games.
Arne 👊 pic.twitter.com/mlzsW4Mja1
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 3, 2025
“The new manager has come with a new idea that helps the team… maybe things have changed a bit, which is why we all want it more and want to win more,” Salah said.
“It doesn’t mean we didn’t want to win more, but a change can help a team and I’ve never been motivated to win the Premier League.
“With Jurgen, we had one system the whole time. We stuck to what we were doing with him, it didn’t matter what.
“We did that for seven to eight years. The new manager changes something a little, depending on the game. We didn’t do that before.”
Liverpool are on a 23-game unbeaten run before they face Manchester United, who are 14th and 23 points behind them, at Anfield on Sunday (1630 GMT).
