Mohamed Salah want granted after FSG Liverpool U-turn that stunned soccer world

Mohamed Salah played his last match for Liverpool last month, but as he headed for the Anfield exit, he had one final wish that has now been granted

Mohamed Salah hasn’t been afraid to speak his mind this season. After the draw with Leeds United in December he claimed that he was being scapegoated for the Reds’ poor results and that the club had thrown him under a bus.

If that wasn’t enough he then told Liverpool’s hierarchy he was concerned about standards slipping once he departed. But no one was quite prepared for what was to come on the afternoon of Saturday, May 16.

The inquest into Liverpool’s 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa was well underway when Salah took to social media to deliver a withering assessment of his side’s style of play and called for a return to the “heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear”.

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“I want to see Liverpool go back to being the heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear, and back to being a team that wins trophies,” he wrote

“That is the football I know how to play and that is the identity that needs to be recovered and kept for good. It cannot be negotiable and everyone that joins this club should adapt to it. Winning some games here and there is not what Liverpool should be about. All teams win games.”

The post on social media was a clear dig at Arne Slot and his style of play. Intriguingly, the post was also “liked” by Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Hugo Ekitike, Andy Robertson, Jeremie Frimpong, Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, Giovanni Leoni, Calvin Ramsay and Wataru Endo.

Salah’s wish was clear. He wanted to see the club return to the high-octane approach that helped secure Champions League and Premier League success under Klopp.

But as the forward waved goodbye to the Anfield faithful following the last game of the season against Brentford, Slot very much maintained the backing of Fenway Sports Group.

That was until last Saturday when, shortly after 12pm, the news that blindsided the football world was confirmed and Slot had been sacked following an end-of-season review that decreed his playing style was no longer the right fit.

The Dutchman, who had often deployed a very pragmatic approach, had only been informed hours before the decision was made public, but the club’s statement made clear a change of approach was required.

“Nevertheless, the conclusion we have come to is built on a belief that the team’s trajectory is best addressed through a change of direction,” a paragraph from the club statement read.

“That does not diminish the work Arne has done here, or the respect we have for him. Nor is it a reflection of his talents. Rather, it is indicative of the need for a different approach.”

And then what Andoni Iraola said on Thursday after he signed a two-year deal to become Liverpool’s head coach would have been music to Salah’s ears.

“I think I have the advantage that I’ve been here already three years in the Premier League and people for sure have seen Bournemouth play,” he said when asked what supporters can expect.

“There are some things that obviously we need to change coaching Liverpool. But I wouldn’t like to lose our identity, the intensity, the aggressiveness, the organisation, certain things that I would like always to have in my team.

“Obviously you have to adapt to the players you have and it’s not the same, one club or the other, but there are fundamentals that I also think match quite well [with] what Liverpool has been during a lot of years that I think we can make it work.”

In the Premier League this season, Iraola’s Bournemouth attacked quicker and with fewer passes in the build-up than Slot’s Liverpool, and supporters are craving a return to a more front-footed style of football that will get them back on the edge of their seats.

And while Salah will instead head to pastures new rather than return to Anfield following the World Cup, he will do so knowing that his wish for the club to return a “heavy metal” approach has been granted.