Slot hopes Salah will keep up Instagram posts… and compares himself to Ronaldo and Messi

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has said he hopes Mohamed Salah posts on Instagram after every game amid speculation that the striker’s latest activity on the platform is a hint that his time at the club is nearing an end.

Salah, who is out of contract at the end of the season, said that “no matter what happens” he would “never forget what scoring at Anfield feels like” in a post made hours after hitting the winner in a 2-1 comeback victory at home to Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League on Saturday.

Captain Virgil van Dijk and wideman Trent Alexander-Arnold’s deals also expire at the culmination of the campaign, leading to Slot repeatedly being asked about the futures of the influential trio.

😁 pic.twitter.com/BmV1cyWqAe

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 4, 2024

Salah contract: Instagram ‘not important’

“I don’t look at the Instagram posts of my players – I only talk to them,” Slot said, speaking before Liverpool aim to extend their unbeaten run to 12 games when Bayer Leverkusen visit Anfield in the Champions League on Tuesday (8pm GMT).

“Mo is in a very good place at the moment. As long as he’s been here, he’s been in a very good place – this season as well. I’m hoping he will post one after tomorrow and on Saturday again [after Liverpool host Aston Villa].

“What he says with that is, for me, not important. The only thing that’s important is how he plays and what he tells me, not how [journalists] interpret one of his posts. We’ve spoken about Leverkusen because that team deserves all of our attention for the quality they have.”

At work in the gym 😤 pic.twitter.com/YbTKbnyuws

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 4, 2024

Ronaldo and Messi earn Slot praise

Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold played key roles in Liverpool winning the 2018-19 Champions League and 2019-20 Premier League among a haul of trophies under Slot’s predecessor, Jurgen Klopp.

“There’s no reason at the moment to think that he is dropping in terms of level,” Slot said when he was asked whether the three-time Golden Boot winner’s performances could be slowing at the age of 32.

“That’s not what you see when you look at his numbers and see him play. I cannot tell you what the future will look like. Cristiano Ronaldo, what age is he at the moment? He’s still doing really well [at 39].

MD-1 💫 pic.twitter.com/PPB5sxiKXv

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 4, 2024

“[Lionel] Messi is still incredible [at 37]. But there were also players, like me, who weren’t as good anymore when they were 33. Not that I was so good when I was 26, but I regressed a bit earlier than Ronaldo and Messi.

“[Salah’s] out of contract at the end of the season and Virgil said something in the press and now [Salah] has a post which you’ve interpreted in a certain way.

“This will probably continue for as long as their futures are unclear. For now, let’s hope they will bring performances like Mo and Virgil had at the weekend.”

In 2013 was PEC Zwolle – ADO Den Haag (4-2) de laatste wedstrijd van het seizoen en ook de laatste wedstrijd voor Arne Slot als profvoetballer. Vlak voor tijd mocht de geboren Bergentheimer nog eenmaal zijn opwachting maken. #pecado #peczwolle #eredivisie pic.twitter.com/pAwa8zuhb3

— PEC Zwolle (@PECZwolle) May 8, 2021

Arne Slot playing career

Slot made more than 400 appearances in the top two divisions in his native Netherlands between 1995 and 2013, winning the second tier twice across two spells with Zwolle, for whom he played most of his games.

The attacking midfielder had a respectable scoring record of around a goal every four matches, also representing NAC Breda and Sparta Rotterdam.

Now 46, he moved into management in 2016 and had brief spells with AZ and Cambuur before joining Feyenoord, where he became a Dutch champion and won the KNVB Cup.

That enticed Liverpool to approach Slot at the end of last season, appointing him as Jurgen Klopp’s successor when the German left after nine years at the helm.