Arne Slot says he cannot guarantee that Mohamed Salah will play for Liverpool again and the under-fire head coach insisted: ‘I am not weak.’
Salah has been dropped from the travelling squad for Tuesday night’s Champions League clash with Inter Milan at San Siro after the Egyptian accused the club of throwing him under the bus in a bombshell interview.
Slot looked like a man in the witness dock being cross-examined and, when asked for a hand-on-heart answer on whether Salah would play for the club again or not, he said: ‘I have no clue. I cannot answer that question at this point in time.’
Earlier, he had said: ‘I am a firm believer that there is always a possibility to return for a player.
‘Usually I am calm and polite but it does not mean I’m weak. When a player says things like that, we have to react as a club. And you can see he is not here (in Milan).’
The head coach has overseen a run of four wins in 15 which has led many fans to turn against him and Salah, who has not started either of the previous three games, to publicly vent his frustration.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot says he cannot guarantee that Mo Salah will play for the club again
Salah trained with the squad on Monday but has been left out of the squad to play Inter Milan
It is understood Salah’s omission is not a formal punishment but a decision made by the club’s hierarchy. The 33-year-old took part in training at the AXA Training Centre on Monday morning but was soon informed he would not be flying to Italy with the rest of the 19-man squad.
Asked if he could have done anything differently to avoid this situation, Slot added: ‘The answer could be to just play him every single time but maybe that’s not why he said what he said. Maybe there’s something else.
‘He has every right to feel what he feels. He has the right to share it with the media but it’s then up to us to react.’
Salah’s comments have made many question whether Slot has lost the dressing room but senior figure and goalkeeper Alisson denied this and said: ‘My relationship with the manager is fine.
‘Before Arne came in everyone talked about the huge challenge of being a substitute for Jurgen Klopp. Now it looks like everyone takes for granted what we achieved last season. It should not be taken for granted.
‘That should be enough but we believe in (Slot’s) knowledge. We believe in his style of play and that he is capable of helping us to turn around this situation. I believe this is not only about ourselves but that is the situation with the club as well.’
Slot was grilled for 17 minutes and, after originally straight-batting the opening few questions, the Dutchman started to open up and gave an honest response to the situation which is the toughest he has faced in his footballing life.
Alisson hinted that there could now be a ‘split’ in the dressing room and Slot faced a huge test of his authority with Salah’s comments. He retains the full backing of the Liverpool hierarchy, who were part of the decision-making process to omit the star striker for this game.
Salah claimed that his relationship with Slot had broken down in a hugely explosive outburst
Slot added: ‘I don’t feel my authority is undermined, it is not the way I feel it.
‘It is not about me, if my life is difficult, it is if it is more difficult for the team, the club, no one likes to be in this situation, it is hard to see staff members who work so hard be so affected as well.’
It is understood Slot and Salah spoke very briefly at the training ground on Monday, with the Egyptian still frustrated at the situation. Given the way he spoke about his future, the club thought it was best to drop him from the squad for a short period.
Liverpool play Brighton on Saturday but it is not decided yet whether he will play. After that, Salah will jet off to Morocco for the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt. Asked if the relationship was completely broken, Slot said: ‘That is not how I feel.
‘I haven’t felt that at all until Saturday evening, when I don’t play (players), usually the players don’t like the manager but he was really respectful to the team-mates and staff managers so it was a surprise to me when I heard the comments.’
Salah is not the only forward missing for the trip to last season’s Champions League finalists. Cody Gakpo is injured and will miss several weeks, while Federico Chiesa did not fly on Monday due to illness.
If he makes a miraculous recovery he could join up with the squad on the day of the game. Wataru Endo, Jeremie Frimpong and defender Giovanni Leoni are also injured, with several youngsters called up to fill the bench at San Siro.