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3rd May 2024
09:49am BST
Graeme Souness had laid into Mohamed Salah and accused him of going missing when Liverpool need him most.
Salah has struggled for form in recent weeks and started on the bench in the Reds' 2-2 draw against West Ham, where he made headlines for his touchline spat with Jurgen Klopp.
Despite 24 goals and 13 assists in 41 appearances, the Egyptian has one goal in his last six games which has coincided with Liverpool's drop in form that has seen them effectively miss out on the Premier League title.
The winger has been linked with a move away from Anfield in the summer as Saudi Pro League sides monitor his movements following a failed attempt to sign him at the start of this season.
And Souness thinks that the 31-year-old is heading for the exit at the end of the season and criticised his "selfish" style of play.
Speaking on the William Hill podcast, Three Up Front, he said: "I believe Mohamed Salah is off and leaving Liverpool. He has been fabulous for Liverpool, but if he leaves to the Saudi Pro League then he’ll be the biggest star in that part of the world.
"He no doubt has an exceptionally large opinion of himself, and he’ll have been angry at not starting the game against West Ham last week. I think the situation with Jurgen Klopp was a reaction to only being brought on with 10 minutes to go – it was more Salah than it was Klopp in that confrontation.
"Salah is the most selfish player I have ever witnessed. Even prior to that game, whenever Klopp takes him off, he is never happy about it. That is what you want from your players, if you take them off on two goals, they should want to stay on to score a third. When Sadio Mane was there they’d fall out all the time."
Souness went on to add that he feels Salah can often go missing in big moments.
"When the going gets tough and another player puts it on him, Salah will disappear from a game," he continued.
"Last season at Old Trafford, Lisandro Martínez went through him early on, and for the rest of the game Salah was looking over his shoulder for Martinez – he doesn’t like that side of the game. He’ll never get himself hurt.
"It ties into the fact that in the last two weeks Liverpool have shown something that I didn’t think they were capable of, they’re getting bullied. It happened when they got beaten 3-0 at Anfield by Atalanta and it happened against Everton at Goodison Park not so long ago.
"Everton had too much passion and aggression and Liverpool got bullied again. You have to be mean and angry to play football, but for whatever reason that has gone completely from Liverpool’s game. That is the difference between winning and losing matches. As a Liverpool player, if there’s one game where you need to turn up with aggression and fight, it is against Everton. Of all the games not to turn up, to perform like that against Everton is unacceptable."
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