Liverpool
Slot: Conversation with Mohamed Salah Will Decide Brighton Involvement
Slot will meet Mohamed Salah before Liverpool decide whether he will be involved against Brighton. .
Liverpool manager Arne Slot has confirmed he does not want Mohamed Salah to leave the club but has not yet decided whether the forward will be involved against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday. Slot said a conversation planned for the morning would determine the immediate outcome.
“I will have a conversation with Mo this morning and the outcome determines how things will look tomorrow.
“What I need is a conversation with him and the next time I speak about Mo should be with him and not in here. There’s not much more to say about it. I will speak to him today and the outcome of that conversation determines how things will look tomorrow.”
Brighton visit is Liverpool’s final match before Salah departs for the Africa Cup of Nations, which runs into the January transfer window. With winter speculation that Salah could leave the club, it is possible he may have already played his final game for Liverpool if he is not reinstated to Slot’s squad for Saturday.
Slot said there had been extensive discussions behind the scenes and pushed back on suggestions that defensive demands lay at the heart of the issue. “I just said the next time I speak about him should be with him,” the Reds boss continued. “I think there’s been a lot of conversations between his representatives and ours, our representatives and him, between him and me after the Sunderland game.”
On the decision to omit Salah from the Inter Milan trip, Slot underlined that the club’s hierarchy were involved but left matchday selections to him. “I think we decided as a club, and I was part of that decision, not to take him to the Inter Milan game,” he continued. “I am always in contact with them, but when it comes to the decision-making of the lineup or the squad, they always leave that open to me, but that’s not to say I don’t talk to them. Mainly Richard [Hughes, sporting director], by the way, not Michael [Edwards, chief executive].
“I talk to him about so many things, but the decision to play a player or to have him in the squad, as I’ve experienced it to now—and I think this will never change—is entirely up to me.”
Slot laughed at repeated probing over the situation but made clear he wants Salah to remain. “The next time I talk about Mo should be with him,” he insisted. “I have no reasons not to want him to stay, if that’s a bit of an answer.”
“This club has won a lot, a lot, a lot of games with him, so that’s an answer to your question I think,” Slot concluded.
Liverpool
End of an era: Salah’s record-packed nine years at Liverpool
Salah leaves Liverpool after nine seasons with 257 goals, 123 assists and nine trophies at Anfield.
The curtain has officially closed on Mohamed Salah’s nine-year spell with Liverpool, a period that fused extraordinary goalscoring with sustained success. A turbulent final campaign cannot erase a legacy built on relentless output and landmark achievements.
Salah announced himself from the off, scoring on his debut in the six-goal thriller with Watford in his first competitive match. By the time he left Anfield he had amassed 257 goals in 442 matches across all competitions, a total that underpins many of the records he set while at the club.
Those records are extensive. Salah finished as Liverpool’s top scorer in both the Premier League and the Champions League and stands as the most prolific African player in the history of English top-flight football. He recorded the most strikes in a debut season for the club, became the first Liverpool player to score 20 or more in eight consecutive campaigns and was the fastest Red to reach 100 goals.
Operating within the forward line that featured Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino, Salah was primarily a scorer but also an important creator. He registered 123 assists in all competitions for Liverpool. His final assist came in his last match at Anfield, a moment that summed up his technical quality: he burst away on the counter before sending a brilliant ball with the outside of his left boot to Curtis Jones, who converted to make the game a 1–1 draw with Brentford. That trivela added another entry to his record book, taking him to 93 Premier League assists for Liverpool and making him the outright club leader in that category.
The 33-year-old departed with nine trophies won at Anfield, including two Premier League titles, the Champions League and both domestic cup competitions. The Europa League remains the only competition he played in with Liverpool that he did not win. When supporters look back, Salah’s nine-year spell will be remembered as one of the defining chapters of the club’s recent history.
Arsenal
How the Premier League Final Day Determined European Places
Final day confirmed five Champions League places and Europa League spots for Bournemouth and Sunderland
The final day of the Premier League delivered decisive outcomes for European qualification after a season of shifting permutations. Arsenal were crowned champions on Tuesday evening after Manchester City failed to win at Bournemouth, and the Gunners also head into next weekend’s Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain with the possibility of entering next season’s competition as holders.
Aston Villa, Europa League winners, beat Manchester City 2–1 and secured fourth place. That result, combined with earlier developments, left the top five comprised of Arsenal, Man City, Man Utd, Aston Villa and Liverpool as the Premier League’s Champions League representatives for next season.
Liverpool’s route to Europe hinged on midweek events. Erling Haaland’s equaliser at the Vitality Stadium meant Liverpool needed a point at home to Brentford. Curtis Jones opened the scoring before Kevin Schade cancelled it out, and the draw was enough for Liverpool to finish fifth and take the extra Champions League berth awarded after a strong English showing in continental competitions.
Manchester United had already confirmed their place among Europe’s elite by beating Liverpool 3–2 earlier in the month. United went into the final day locked in third and ended the season with a 3–0 win at Brighton & Hove Albion; Bruno Fernandes broke the single-season assist record.
Bournemouth will compete in the Europa League after holding Nottingham Forest to a 1–1 draw and completing an 18-game unbeaten run. Sunderland produced the biggest surprise, rising from 10th on the morning of the final day to secure Europa League qualification with a 2–1 win over Chelsea.
Régis Le Bris has done a remarkable job, and surely the rumors of a potential successor being lined up will be squashed after what his team achieved on the final day.
Crystal Palace can still reach the Europa League by winning the Conference League final. There have been nine English finalists in UEFA’s three club competitions since 2021, with Palace aiming to become the second Premier League outfit to win the Conference League.
Brighton were beaten 3–0 by Manchester United but finished eighth after other results, while their European experience under Roberto De Zerbi in 2023 remains part of the club’s recent continental history.
Brentford
Salah’s Final Anfield Stand: An Assist, A Post and A Farewell
Salah’s final Anfield appearance: a 1-1 draw with Brentford in which he supplied an assist. send-off
Mohamed Salah finished his Liverpool career at Anfield on the final day of the 2025–26 season, starting on the right wing in a 1-1 draw with Brentford. Despite a strained relationship with manager Arne Slot, Salah and Andy Robertson were both selected and Robertson received a send-off before his departure.
The 33-year-old began the game lively, producing crisp passing and strong delivery from corners, but early on he was tightly marked by Brentford left back Keane Lewis-Potter. Frustration followed: Salah failed to dribble past Lewis-Potter, won none of his ground duels in the opening 15 minutes and was forced into several hurried actions that blunted Liverpool’s initial momentum.
In the 19th minute an effort from a free kick bent off the outside of the post. Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher could only watch as the woodwork intervened. The near miss seemed to lift Salah. He soon drove into the box and forced a save from Kelleher, then combined with Dominik Szoboszlai to create another opening, only for his first touch to be smothered.
The defining moment arrived early in the second half. A long pass from Ryan Gravenberch released Salah down the right; with space to run he bent a measured outside-of-the-boot pass to Jones, who finished to put Liverpool ahead. The assist was Salah’s 93rd in the English top flight since he joined the Reds in 2017, putting him above Steven Gerrard as Liverpool’s Premier League leader in assists.
Slot replaced Salah in the 74th minute. The forward took his time to accept the ovation, embraced teammates and Slot on the touchline, dropped to his knees and pressed his head to the turf in a final private moment at Anfield.
Match statistics for Salah: 74 minutes played, 0 goals, 1 assist, xG 0.23, xGOT 0.73, xA 0.44, 32/38 passes (84%), 1 chance created, 1 big chance created, 2 shots on target, 1 off target, 1 blocked shot.
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