Less than a year ago, Salah was sitting on a throne inside Anfield after renewing his contract and signing a deal until the summer of 2027.
His previous deal was set to expire in the 2025 but, given his numbers last season, where he topped the goalscoring and assist charts in the Premier League, the Liverpool hierarchy had no choice but to offer him a new deal.
Yet by December, Salah was benched – then left out of the squad entirely – after his explosive mixed zone interview at Leeds, where he claimed that his relationship with Slot had broken down and that someone at the club wanted him out.
Those close to Salah say he was always going to speak at Elland Road, regardless of the result, and that his initial discontent had started when he was benched for a Champions League game away at Eintracht Frankfurt in October, a match Liverpool won 5-1.
Slot admitted it was a difficult decision but it didn’t sit right with Salah, who believed he should be starting every Premier League and Champions League game, given what he had done for the club.
Put simply, that was the first seed that Salah would no longer be a guaranteed starter and, given Liverpool’s summer outlay of £450m including Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike, the direction of their attacking strategy was clear. Salah knew he would no longer be the main man.
In the weeks leading up to that explosive interview, he was left upset after meetings with the Liverpool hierarchy, including sporting director Richard Hughes, where it was outlined that he could be benched.
His punishment for the interview was being left behind for the trip to Inter Milan but, three days later, Salah came off the bench against Brighton and got an assist – with Slot saying post-match there was “no issue to resolve”.
From there, the Egyptian travelled to the Africa Cup of Nations while the club held talks with his agent Ramy Abbas and, when Salah returned to England in January, those close to the situation felt a verbal agreement was in place for both player and club to part ways this summer.
Last month, BBC Sport reported that a summer departure was increasingly likely.
