Mohamed Salah's best mate does not regret leaving Reds — 'Liverpool miss me'

Mohamed Salah has announced he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season and his departure will come six years on from the exit of one of his closest friends in soccer

Mohamed Salah and Dejan Lovren struck up a close friendship at Liverpool(Image: 2020 Liverpool FC)

Mohamed Salah's announcement that he will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season did not come as too much of a surprise.

The announcement itself came out of the blue, with no prior suggestion that an exit video was imminent, but it has been a hugely disappointing season for the Egyptian, and it would make no sense for him to remain at Anfield for another year on astronomical wages.

Salah will obviously go down as one of Liverpool's greatest-ever players, having spearheaded the team's return to the top of the English game, becoming the Reds' third-highest scorer of all time in the process.

The Egyptian has been helped by having a number of world-class teammates by his side over the last few years, too, including the likes of Alisson, Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane.

When Salah arrived at Liverpool in 2017, though, the team was not quite at the level that it wanted to be at, and there were still several players in the squad that joined the club in the pre-Jurgen Klopp era.

One of those was Dejan Lovren, with whom Salah quickly struck up a close friendship.

Lovren joined Liverpool when Brendan Rodgers was still the manager in 2014, but lasted several seasons under Klopp, departing in 2020 after the team had won its first league title for 30 years.

Lovren's final two seasons did not see him play too frequently, though, with Van Dijk arriving and the likes of Joe Gomez and Joel Matip moving ahead of them in the pecking order.

Dejan Lovren and Mohamed Salah were good friends at Liverpool(Image: Getty Images)

Lovren joined Zenit St Petersburg in Russia, and in 2021, he said that he had no regrets about leaving Liverpool, suggesting that the club missed him more than he missed the club.

"No, I don't regret [leaving]. My decision in the summer was firm - to leave Liverpool, and I do not look back," Lovren boldly stated.

"I got upset last season when I didn't play, but now everything is different."

He added: "I think Liverpool miss me more than I miss them and Jurgen Klopp knows this, because we communicate.

"He wrote recently, 'We miss you.' I spoke with Jurgen [after I left], but I will not disclose details.

"Jurgen said only good things and wished him luck."