Mohamed Salah Exit Still Divides Liverpool, But Graeme Souness Makes His Point Plain

Mohamed Salah’s Liverpool exit still stirs the blood because it touches a nerve that runs right through the club. Great players leave, eras end, arguments linger. This one will roll on for years because supporters saw the same collapse through very different eyes. Some felt Salah was badly handled, some thought he crossed a line, and plenty will never budge.

Graeme Souness, speaking to the Daily Star, has made it crystal clear where he stands. He is not dealing in shades of grey here. In his mind, Salah was central to Liverpool’s problems during that dreadful title defence, and he has not softened the view.

Souness points finger at Salah

The strongest line from Souness lands with real force: “The single biggest reason they didn’t do well last year was Mo Salah.” That is a huge call when a season unravels in so many directions, from energy levels to recruitment, from confidence to management. Yet it tells you exactly how seriously he viewed Salah’s decline and his public fallout with Arne Slot.

Souness went further, saying, “I think he he caused real problems within the camp.” Those words matter because Liverpool have always relied on dressing-room discipline. Talent wins matches, but standards hold the place together. Once those standards slip, trouble follows quickly.

He also pointed back to the Community Shield and what he felt he saw from the winger, saying, “I saw him in the Community Shield against Palace and he just didn’t take part in the game, and I thought maybe he’s just carrying something, maybe he’s just not had a full pre-season but that’s how he ended up playing last season, just not at it.” It is a brutal assessment, but there was no attempt to dress it up.

Liverpool dressing-room standards always matter

For many supporters, the flashpoint came after Leeds, when Salah voiced his frustration in public. Souness plainly believes that did damage. As he put it, “And then he caused upheaval within the camp when he was left out and the remarks he came out with after the Leeds game when he walked through the press zone about he feels he’s been thrown under the bus.”

Then came the line that clearly stuck with him most: “The killer for me was ‘I don’t have to turn up every day in training to fight for my place.’ Yes you do. That’s what you have to do at a big football club.” That sentiment will resonate with old-school supporters because Liverpool has never been a place where reputation alone gets you over the line.

Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz must deliver more

Souness did not pin everything on Salah. He also turned towards recruitment, and that feels fair enough. “Apart from him [Salah] not turning up, the players they signed have not hit the ground running,” he said. Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz arrived with huge expectation and, in a difficult season, neither truly lifted the side often enough.

There is a hard truth in his next point too: “They spent a hell of a lot of money and last year these boys didn’t live up to their billing.” Liverpool now move into a new chapter under Andoni Iraola, and whatever side of the Mohamed Salah debate you stand on, one thing is beyond dispute. Standards have to return, quickly. As Souness said, “when you play for Liverpool, every game is a cup final.”

Source: Graeme Souness who spoke to the Daily Star