Salah: Liverpool forward's Arne Slot comments are Ronaldo-esque powerplay

Mohamed Salah has given Liverpool a decision to make after revealing he no longer has a relationship with Arne Slot. It is difficult to see a path forward for both star player and manager now. Whatever happens next, it will be seismic for Liverpool.

Salah fleetingly stops for journalists, ensuring on the rare occasions he does, he delivers a message for maximum impact. After suffering the ignominy of being benched for a third game running, he felt compelled to respond to what he felt was a lack of respect.

Although the emotion is clear in Salah's words, this feels opportunistic, too. Would he have stopped had Liverpool held on to beat Leeds United and moved fifth in the Premier League table? It is fair to question the timing.

Salah chose to speak out, in a season when he has been largely silent, to deliver a message about his own future at a moment of weakness for Slot, who failed to take the seven points Jamie Carragher said he needed to save his job against West Ham, Sunderland and Leeds.

Significantly, Slot was the only colleague Salah mentioned by name. Intentional or not, he has made it 'me vs him'. Although, Salah might argue Slot did that himself by forcing him to watch from the bench as Liverpool twice blew a lead at Elland Road.

One inarguable takeaway from Salah's bombshell interview is that he just wants to play football again, whether that can happen at Liverpool is unclear. Next Saturday's game against Brighton, his last before going to AFCON, could feasibly be his Anfield farewell.

Salah was precise with his words, stopping short of saying he wanted to leave. "I will be at Anfield [for the Brighton game] to say goodbye to the fans and go to the Africa cup I don't know what is going to happen when I am there."

After this, it's hard to see a world in which he plays next week

Where did it all go wrong for Salah and Slot?

This scenario would have seemed inconceivable a year or even six months ago. Salah, glowing in his praise for Slot, was the Premier League's top goalscorer and firing Liverpool to the title in the Dutchman's first season in charge. They had it made, it seemed.

Salah, however, simply has not done enough to warrant a place in the team this season, his rate of return for goals and assists in the league dropping by more than half. Slot, who is battling to turn around an almighty slump, can ill afford to have any passengers.

The Liverpool boss had given Salah freedom to forego most of his defensive duties last season. That only works when the goals are flowing, though. Now they have dried up, and the rest of the team needs a helping hand, Slot has been left with little choice.

Perhaps the straw that broke the camel's back was Salah's half-hearted attempts to tackle and track back against PSV left-back Mauro Junior for the Dutch side's second goal in their 4-1 Champions League win at Anfield. That game preceded his spell on the bench.

Salah, of course, argues quite rightly that none of Liverpool's attackers have covered themselves in glory this season, but all of them - other than Cody Gakpo - have been taken out of the team. The difference for Salah is that he views himself on a different level.

"I don't have to go every day fighting for my position because I earned it," he said. "I am not bigger than anyone, but I earned my position." Inarguable from the player with more goal contributions than anyone else in the Premier League since his debut.

Is 'Ronaldo-esque' Salah undroppable?

You simply do not drop Salah without risking his wrath. Jurgen Klopp experienced similar when he benched the forward at West Ham in his final season. That was the last time Salah had been left out of a starting XI before Slot did the same at West Ham last month.

Klopp took Salah out the team when results were on the decline and their title hopes had evaporated, ending the German's dream of a fairytale farewell. They argued on the touchline and Salah told journalists after the game "if I speak today there will be fire".

Slot might argue that Klopp got off lightly in comparison, but the two instances highlight the status Salah commands in the game. Few players would even dream of taking on the manager of a big club like Liverpool so publicly. This is a Cristiano Ronaldo-esque powerplay.

The Portuguese did exactly this in his second spell at Manchester United, calling out Erik ten Hag ahead of the 2022 Qatar World Cup and ended up moving to Saudi Arabia. Many have presumed that to be the most likely outcome here.

What next for Salah - could he still stay?

Salah, who signed a two-year contract with Liverpool in April, clearly still sees himself playing at the top level and said as much at Elland Road when asked if he could believe his time on Merseyside might be coming to end in this manner.

"Somehow it will end but the thing in my head is like why it should end this way? Because I am too fit, just five months ago I was just winning every individual award so why should it go this direction?"

Those are not the words of a man that wants to head for an early retirement in Saudi Arabia. Yet, realistically, the Saudi Pro League is likely the only destination the 33-year-old could hope to fetch at least the reported £400,000-a-week wage he is on now.

Liverpool have time to find a solution and Salah knows this. If Egypt were to reach the AFCON final, he would not return to Merseyside until late January. The transfer window opens at the beginning of that month and appears to be the most likely answer to the problem.

But given the nature of Salah's comments, and an apparent lack of appropriate suitors at the top level in Europe, it cannot be ruled out that he bides his time until his return to see if Slot survives the busy winter schedule.