Mohamed Salah’s current lack of minutes for Liverpool is only increasing the “speculation” over his future, according to journalist Pete O’Rourke.
The 33-year-old has been left out of the Reds’ starting lineup in back-to-back Premier League games, with Arne Slot making it clear that no player is immune from being dropped.
Salah’s form has clearly been a disappointment this season, so he can’t have too many complaints, but he is a proud footballer who will be stinging about his current squad status.
That’s certainly the opinion of O’Rourke, who told Football Insider that the Egyptian’s unhappiness is only fuelling speculation about his future.
“Obviously that speculation has resurfaced because he’s found himself out of the starting XI for the last two games,” O’Rourke said.
“He’s started consecutive games now on the bench, against West Ham and Sunderland. You know one’s things for certain, Salah won’t be happy on the bench at Liverpool, he won’t want to play a bit-part role in the side after his unbelievable performances last season.
“It’s a difficult time for him and a difficult time for everybody in the Liverpool squad, they’re not performing at the levels they should be.
“Speculation will start to bubble again now because he’s not in that starting line-up for Arne Slot’s team. He’s made a brave decision to leave him out of the last two games. They’ve got a win and a draw in those two games, but it’ll be interesting to see if Salah is restored to the starting line-up against Leeds this weekend.”
Will Salah start for Liverpool vs. Leeds?
Slot has a big decision to make ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Leeds United on Saturday, with the idea of Salah being axed for three successive games almost unthinkable.
It feels like the right time to bring him back into the starting lineup, though, especially as he made a difference when he came on at half-time in the 1-1 draw at home to Sunderland on Wednesday night.
Cody Gakpo’s form has been frustrating, so leaving him out for Salah, and potentially playing Florian Wirtz to the left – Hugo Ekitike deserves to replace Alexander Isak up front, too – could make sense.
