Liverpool head coach Arne Slot was inevitably asked about what Mohamed Salah had to say about his contract situation
Arne Slot has dismissed suggestions Mohamed Salah could become distracted by speculation over his Liverpool future – and believes it is bringing the best out of the Egyptian. Salah caused a stir after scoring twice in Sunday’s 3-2 Premier League win at Southampton when publicly expressing his disappointment at not yet formally being offered a new contract.
The 32-year-old’s current deal expires at the end of the season and, similar to Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, he would be able to talk to clubs from abroad in the New Year over a proposed free transfer next summer.
Salah has been in excellent form this season having provided 12 goals and 10 assists in 18 appearances for a Liverpool side that stands eight points clear at the Premier League summit and top of the Champions League table at the halfway point of the first stage.
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And ahead of the visit in the latter competition of holders Real Madrid on Wednesday night, Slot was asked for his view on Salah’s recent comments.
“People tell me about this but I have said many times that we don’t share things about this, or at least I do not share about this,” said the Reds boss on Tuesday afternoon. “The only thing I can say is that if I look at my line-ups, Mo is more in than out. So that quote I can give you.
“Definitely we want his numbers to be where they are at the moment because those are the numbers that Mo always had and still has. That is the positive thing.
“I don’t think it distracts Mo at all, maybe it even brings the best out of him if you look at his performances until now. I talk to Mo about what I expect from him, like I do with all the other players, and he is in a good place at the moment.
“I’m not distracted by his comments and I don’t feel his team-mates are. It’s nice we have a story in the media, you guys have some work now as well.
“I don’t think that he is distracted at all. I haven’t seen that after the (Manchester) United game (in September) when he had some comments, I haven’t seen it after a (social media) post you told me about (after Brighton earlier this month) – he carried on scoring.”
Slot added: “Today he is fully focused on the game tomorrow, I think these kinds of things are inside here and the media and all the fans talk about it, which is completely normal. But if you had been at the AXA today I don’t think any player talked about it, at least not while I was there.
“Players always give each other stick so maybe they did this now but players are also focused on the short-term and that is Madrid and that is (Manchester) City (on Sunday).
“I don’t think there is any distraction for him, for the players and definitely not for me because I worked yesterday on preparing the team in the best possible way and there was not one time in my mind that I was thinking about sitting here and talking about Mo.”
Alexander-Arnold returned to training on Tuesday having missed out against Southampton with the hamstring issue that forced him out of England’s recent UEFA Nations League games.
However, the right-back and Harvey Elliott – who was back on the bench at the weekend after almost three months sidelined with a fractured foot – won’t be considered for a start while Federico Chiesa, Kostas Tsimikas, Alisson Becker and Diogo Jota remain unavailable.
“Funny that you ask about our injuries as most people only ask about the injuries Real Madrid have,” said Slot. “We also have a few recently.
“Trent is in the squad but he will not be available to start. He can maybe make a few minutes, but in an ideal world he maybe doesn’t.
“Federico is not in the squad yet. He is not training in the whole session yet, but one or two parts of the session. Harvey Elliott is in the squad but hasn’t played competitive football in a long time. He is not ready to start.
“Alisson is not there yet, Diogo is not there yet, Kostas is not there, he has an injury as well. It’s quite a list for us as well.”
