Following Mohamed Salah’s pointed remarks about his contract situation at Liverpool, Arne Slot remained cautious, avoiding speculation about “a lot of ‘ifs'” concerning the player’s future.
Salah, one of three key players entering the final year of their contracts at Anfield, revealed after Sunday’s 3-0 win over Manchester United that he has yet to be approached about an extension.
This revelation has understandably frustrated supporters, given Salah’s exceptional performances, even as he enters his 30s.
Many view the club’s inaction as negligent.
In his post-match press conference at Old Trafford, Slot was asked about Salah’s comments.
However, he wisely chose not to delve into the matter, maintaining a measured stance.
“It’s a lot of ‘if’, but at this moment he’s one of ours and I’m really, really happy with him being one of ours. He plays really well,” he told reporters.
“I don’t talk about contracts from players, but I can talk for hours about how Mo played today.
“But are you interested in that?
“He was impressive, like the first two games as well, but if we talk about an individual, you don’t do justice to all the other ones.
“I think today you saw a real good team performance, playing out from the back, high press, midfield that kept on running.
“So of course, all the attention goes to Mo and to Lucho, but that doesn’t do justice to the other nine and the ones that came in.”
On the win over Man United, Slot added: “I normally don’t use the word ‘proud’ but what I think we did very well in all three games is, like I just mentioned, the work-rate without the ball.
“So, we try to press the opponent as high as we can but if they play through or over our press, I see everybody working really hard to make sure we don’t need Ali and sometimes we do and then it’s a good thing that we have a real good goalkeeper.
“What impressed me most today was the way we played with the ball because I know what we can do without the ball, but the way we played with the ball was I think also very good today.
“It was special to be involved in this game and it’s only special if you win it, and that’s what we did.
“So, [I am] really pleased that we won it but maybe even more with the game and how we did it today.”
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