Some partnerships between a player and a club transcend the ordinary and produce something that feels genuinely historic. Mohamed Salah and Liverpool were exactly that, and this week the Egyptian confirmed that their nine-year story will come to its conclusion at the end of the season. The 33-year-old will depart on a free transfer this summer, with 12 months still remaining on a deal that pays around £500,000 per week. Both sides agreed it was the right time.
Salah joined Liverpool in the summer of 2017, arriving from Roma with a reputation as a dangerous winger but without the global fame that would follow within months of his arrival. He broke Liverpool’s all-time single-season goal-scoring record in his first campaign with 32 goals and continued from there, accumulating a total of 255 goals that places him third in the club’s 134-year history. His four Golden Boots and three PFA awards are the defining markers of an elite Premier League career.
His farewell was characteristically heartfelt. In a video posted to social media, Salah reflected on how Liverpool had become part of who he is — not as a football club in the conventional sense but as a community with a spirit that had entered his life and changed it permanently. He thanked the fans at length for their support across the years, and he closed with words drawn from the famous anthem that has bound generations of supporters to the club — a fitting, sincere tribute.
This season has been different from those that came before. The public dispute with Arne Slot in December — in which Salah spoke openly of their near-nonexistent communication and claimed the club had not treated him fairly — was a significant and widely discussed episode. He was dropped for a Champions League trip and there were real questions about the state of the relationship. But he came back, he performed, and last week he scored the goal against Galatasaray that made him the first player from Africa to reach 50 Champions League goals.
With no future destination agreed, the football world now waits. Salah’s agent has refused to speculate, and the range of clubs linked with a move covers multiple continents and financial brackets. Robertson’s tribute to his departing colleague was among the most warmly received of many that followed the announcement, and it summed up what those inside the club know to be true: that Mohamed Salah is, in Robertson’s words, the greatest. Whatever comes next, Liverpool will mourn his loss even as they celebrate a wonderful shared story.