Mohamed Salah agreement reached as Liverpool star may have already played final game

Arne Slot faces the biggest decision of his time in charge of Liverpool this weekend, with Mohamed Salah’s future potentially on the line.

Having picked up a much-needed win without the Egyptian at Inter Milan on Tuesday, the Reds will return to Merseyside as they prepare to face Brighton on Saturday - and Salah will be waiting for them back at the AXA Training Centre.

The 33-year-old was left out of the traveling squad to Italy following his extraordinary outburst against the club and Slot, in which he suggested that this weekend’s meeting with the Seagulls could be his final appearances for the Reds.

A return to the squad isn’t out of the question, especially after he trained with his teammates on Monday and Slot suggested that his future has not yet been decided. The head coach though faces a huge decision before Salah heads off to the Africa Cup of Nations, and it’s one that might well signal the end of the winger’s time as a Liverpool player.

Should Salah be recalled by Liverpool this weekend for what could be his final game for the Reds? Our Liverpool.com writers have had their say…

Michael Plant

Really, I think this comes down to Salah and his actions when the team returns to the AXA. I have a sneaking suspicion we won’t be getting any behind-the-scenes images from training on Thursday…

Slot implied after the win over Inter that Salah has to act first and apologize, but added the situation is redeemable. I think that’s wise from the Liverpool head coach – I’m firmly in the camp that Salah’s actions on Saturday were disgraceful, egotistical and frankly dumbfounding.

There’s a bruised ego at play, of course. Salah doesn’t strike me as the sort to back down or have his opinion easily swayed. In many ways, that single-minded determination has made him Liverpool’s star man for nearly a decade. Now it’s coming back to bite the club.

If there’s no apology or sign of contrition, then bringing Salah back for one game before he departs for the Africa Cup of Nations makes little sense, even with Liverpool’s dearth of attacking options at present.

The earliest Egypt can exit the tournament is December 29. In reality, Salah and Co will probably go deep into the competition. That gives time for the dust to settle, for everyone to re-evaluate the situation and, hopefully, for a resolution to emerge. It feels unlikely that will happen in time for Saturday.

James Findlater

It's a delicate situation for Arne Slot. On the one hand, it probably makes the most sense for him to show a strong hand and leave Salah out again after his act of rebellion. On the other hand, he might have to recall him anyway.

With Cody Gakpo out, Federico Chiesa ill and Alexander Isak still looking lost, it feels like Liverpool is just relying on Hugo Ekitike or Dominik Szoboszlai to come up with the goods at the moment. If neither of those are firing on Saturday, there's very little else for Slot to call upon from the bench.

In that sense then, recalling Salah might be the route to take to give Liverpool the best chance of beating Brighton. Having said that, I'm not comfortable with the idea of him returning just a week after such a poor piece of judgment.

Having won in midweek, it would feel unfair to the rest of the players if Salah was to be made the center of attention on Saturday, which he no doubt would be. The fact he waved to Liverpool fans at Leeds suggests he himself already knows he might not get the chance to return before he heads off to AFCON, and that would be the right decision.

Tom Blow

There's no point in bringing Mohamed Salah back into the fold for the Brighton game. He's heading to the AFCON on Monday, so it would make more sense for Arne Slot to give Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike, and Florian Wirtz an extended run in the starting XI.

Salah should be allowed to focus on trying to fix the one blemish on his CV: winning silverware with Egypt. As Jamie Carragher reminded us earlier this week, the Egyptians are the most successful team in AFCON history, but Salah has never won the tournament.

It's in everyone's interest to let Salah go off the AFCON and deal with this problem when he returns. It's not too late for him to revive his Liverpool career, but he'll need to publicly apologize to the club, the fans, and his manager after his outrageous comments.

I don't think he'll do that, however. I believe he made his comments at Leeds to engineer a lucrative move away from Liverpool in January, with Saudi Arabia being his most likely destination. It's time for Liverpool's next generation to take over.

Liam Corless

It beggars belief that there are actually people who are on Mohamed Salah’s side in this situation.

Salah has scored five goals all season, and while that tally is bettered only by Hugo Ekitike in Liverpool’s squad, the Egyptian has failed the eye test miserably.

For all Salah’s brilliance, he has never been the most graceful winger – but that did not matter when he was befuddling defenders and scoring countless goals.

For much of 2025, though, he has appeared impotent when squaring up defenders, when he used to strike fear into them.

Simply, Salah’s level has dropped off a cliff and he’s lucky that Slot didn’t drop him from the team weeks earlier than he did.

If Salah wants to play for Liverpool again, he should be groveling at Arne Slot’s feet; if he doesn’t, Liverpool can save itself around $40 million in wages by letting him go in January.

He absolutely should not return against Brighton.