Gerrard advised Salah not to leave ‘under cloud’

Steven Gerrard has revealed he advised Mohamed Salah not to leave Liverpool “under a cloud” following the Egyptian’s public fallout with manager Arne Slot.

Salah announced last week he will depart Anfield in the summer after agreeing to end his contract a year early.

The 33-year-old has endured a difficult season and claimed during a post-match interview in December to have been “thrown under the bus” by Slot, having been dropped to the bench amid a poor run of results.

“I spoke to him around that interview at the time and sort of said to him, ‘don’t do what you’ve done and go under a cloud’,” said Gerrard, speaking on The Overlap podcast.

“I spoke to him direct. He texts me now and again, or I text him – more to do with if I’m going somewhere with Lio (Gerrard’s son), just so Lio can see him, really, but I’m not like close to him.

“But it gave me the opportunity to say to him, ‘Look, you’ve been here eight, nine years, you’ve been king here, you’ve got this legacy, just go on your terms, the right way’.

“He was still a little bit emotional from the incident. He was in and out of the team at the time, he was upset. I just thought it would be a shame if he left in January and he just left (without a goodbye).”

Former Reds captain Gerrard believes it is in “everyone’s best interests” for Salah, who has scored 255 goals in 435 appearances for the club, to leave at the end of the campaign.

Gerrard believes the forward will ultimately regret his explosive interview, which followed being an unused substitute in a 3-3 draw at Leeds on December 6.

Asked if he was shocked by news of Salah’s imminent departure, the 45-year-old replied: “No, not at all. I think it’s in everyone’s best interests now. I think the timing’s right.

“He’s obviously had a disagreement with the manager. I don’t know at what level. He’s obviously done the interview, which I think he’ll regret further down the line. But that told that there was an issue there.”