Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher called current Reds winger Mohamed Salah “selfish” over the player’s reaction to his contract impasse.
Carragher’s remarks came on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, on which he was a pundit, and was asked for his opinion on an interview given by the Egyptian after Liverpool’s 3-2 win away at Southampton, where he scored twice.
The winger’s contract is due to expire at the end of the season, with his future beyond that still up in the air.
Jamie Carragher urges Mohamed Salah to put Liverpool before himself
In the original clip, asked by reporters about his contract situation outside St Mary’s Stadium, Salah said: “Well, we are almost in December and I haven’t received any offers yet to stay in the club. I’m probably more out than in.
“I’m not going to retire soon, so I’m just playing, focusing on the season and I’m trying to win the Premier League and hopefully the Champions League. I’m disappointed, but we will see.”
Asked about those quotes on MNF, Carragher responded: “I must say I am very disappointed with Mo Salah. Liverpool have Real Madrid next week and Man City at the weekend.
“If he keeps putting comments out, his agent puts out cryptic messages, that is selfish. That is thinking about themselves and not the football club.”
It’s not the first time Salah – listed as the Premier League’s best-ever winger by FourFourTwo – has opened up about his future this season, making similar comments following the Reds 3-0 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford in September, a notable sequence of events due to Salah’s reported tendency to avoid speaking to the media.
The forward, currently on 12 goals and ten assists in 18 appearances across all competitions, joins Liverpool heavyweights Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold in having contracts due to expire in the summer.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, it’s clear that Salah wants to stay Liverpool based on the attention he’s drawing to the situation – his original comments following the game against the Saints came outside the stadium, where he could easily have walked on – so the Merseyside club must do all they can to keep him on.
BBC Sport reported that, contrary to Salah’s comments alluding that it hasn’t been addressed, club sources have revealed that discussions between them and the player’s agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, are still going on and have been positive.
Whatever the sticking point is, the club must find a way through it soon. There’s no denying Salah’s impact this season, and despite now being 32 years old, there’s no sign the Egypt international is slowing down.
