Mohamed Salah's legacy is secure - but there's still one thing Liverpool needs to do for him

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Mohamed Salah will leave Liverpool this summer as one of the club's greatest ever players, but it's on Liverpool now to make sure he goes out on the terms he deserves

Mohamed Salah will go down as one of Liverpool's greatest ever players(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

The King is vacating his throne — but hopefully not before one last grand moment.

After nine years, Liverpool will be bidding farewell to Mohamed Salah this summer. His place among the greatest Anfield icons is secure after a mesmerizing spell which has seen him climb into the top three of the club’s top goalscorers of all time, as well as fire the Reds to two Premier League titles and the Champions League, among other trophies.

It is testament to the utmost professional he is - a player who has been held up as the ultimate example for his teammates to follow - that perhaps his finest hour came just last season, when simply no one came close to the levels he produced.

He is the club’s greatest ever foreign player. Not just that, but he absolutely holds a place alongside the likes of Sir Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard as the greatest ever to wear the iconic red.

In truth, as much as the timing of his announcement came as a shock on Tuesday, the decision itself wasn’t a surprise. This is an exit that has been on the cards for months now.

This season hasn’t been the way in which a legend would like to go out. Salah’s decline was as sudden as it was unexpected after his heroics over the previous 12 months. There will be plenty of factors in play there, not least the grief he and his teammates suffered following the tragic passing of Diogo Jota.

Liverpool must make sure Mohamed Salah goes out on his terms now(Image: Michael Regan, Getty Images/Getty Images For The Premier League)

His legacy will not be tarnished though, even after that extraordinary outburst in December. In many ways, that was a sign of the competitor he is, and the standards that he holds himself and his club to.

Now, even in a season that has fallen so far of expectations - and not just for Salah by the way - he has the opportunity to go out in style, and on the terms befitting him.

Throughout his time at Liverpool, Salah has held the Champions League above any other trophy. It was only last season when that outlook changed, and he embarked on an almost one-man mission to bring the Premier League title back to Anfield.

Hopes of back-to-back championships are long gone, but the Champions League remains well within sight. It will be a big ask, especially considering Arne Slot’s side looks nowhere near the form of European champions, but the Reds owe it to Salah to give him the perfect send-off.

For all its success over recent years, Liverpool hasn’t done the best job of saying farewell to some of its biggest names. The likes of Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane never got the chance to say a proper goodbye to Anfield, and far too often, players haven’t gone out on their own terms.

Salah will get that chance though, and it would only be right for him to do so by living up to his dream of being crowned a European champion again. Long live the Egyptian King.