Lovren insists Salah will not reverse Liverpool exit despite Slot's sacking

Mohamed Salah will not perform a U-turn on his decision to leave Liverpool, even in the wake of Arne Slot’s sacking, according to former Reds defender Dejan Lovren. The Croatian, speaking to WinWin, said the public nature of Salah’s farewell has made any reversal effectively impossible.

“No, it’s over,” Lovren said. “Mo has a big personality too. I don’t know, if they hadn’t announced all of that, all the details of leaving, saying thank you and goodbye, maybe yes, but now it’s difficult.”

Salah confirmed his exit from Anfield earlier this season, departing on a free transfer despite having signed a new two-year contract just twelve months prior. His relationship with Slot had been widely cited as the driving force behind the split, with the Egyptian publicly airing his grievances as far back as December.

“I said many times before that I had a good relationship with the manager and all of a sudden, we don’t have any relationship,” Salah said at the time. “It seems to me that someone doesn’t want me in the club. I’m sitting on the bench for 90 minutes — the third time on the bench, I think for the first time in my career. It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus.”

Slot has since been dismissed by Liverpool and replaced by Andoni Iraola, but Lovren believes the timing of Salah’s exit announcement means the door is now firmly closed — even though he is convinced the outcome would have been different had events unfolded in a different order.

“Yes, he would have stayed 100 percent,” Lovren said. “Believe me, he would have stayed 100 percent, I know that. But the timing was bad.”

Lovren was also unequivocal about what Salah’s departure means for Liverpool going forward. “Only a fool would say we no longer need him,” he said. “To say you don’t need Mohamed Salah at Liverpool, when he can still perform at the highest level for another two or three years, then we have a problem understanding football.”

Salah has yet to confirm his next club following his exit from Liverpool.