Mohamed Salah, a dirty file arises

Salah's time at Liverpool has been detailed in a lengthy report from the Daily Mail. There are allegations that he hasn't always had the best relationship with manager Jurgen Klopp or teammate Sadio Mané. The filing states that Klopp did not actively pursue Salah before his 2017 transfer, instead preferring names such as Julian Brandt, although he was ultimately persuaded to buy the Egyptian by his recruitment team.

Although he flourished under the German, it is said that Klopp and Salah were never close, and that there was simply respect between the two. Eventually, tensions rose after Salah did a question-and-answer session with a Spanish newspaper in 2020 in which he expressed outrage at not being named captain for a Champions League match.

Never close to Klopp

Later, after Salah questioned Klopp's training methods following a defeat against Everton, he was left on the bench, as they argued during a draw against West Ham . Similar incidents occurred with winger Sadio Mané. When Salah arrived at Liverpool, the two were close, but as time went on, Mané began to feel overshadowed and underappreciated due to the Egyptian's brilliant goalscoring form, and this eventually boiled over on the ground.

In a high-profile incident against Burnley, Salah chose to go for goal himself rather than pass the ball to Mané, who was in a better position. Furious, Mané verbally attacked Salah, and Klopp's decision to replace the Senegalese international moments later only increased tensions. The strained relationship between the two African wingers ultimately contributed to Mané's departure from Liverpool in favor of a move to Bayern Munich.

While Klopp and Mané have both proven themselves, Salah has outlasted the latter two at Liverpool, meaning at least old problems have been swept under the carpet. Liverpool will simply focus on their football at this point, as Salah's fearsome form has seen the Reds rise to the top of the Premier League under new manager Arne Slot.