Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk made a public plea for Mohamed Salah to remain a steadying presence in the dressing room after the manager decided to omit the forward from the starting XI for consecutive matches. Van Dijk framed the selection as a club-first decision and said it should act as a reminder to the squad ahead of a January transfer window that will generate fresh speculation over Salah\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s always been the case [that no one is undroppable],\u201d Van Dijk said (via The Times ). \u201cIt\u2019s not like you have unlimited credit, everyone has to perform.<\/p>\n
\u201cMo has been doing that but the manager made that decision in the last two games. We all want the best for the club. I am pretty sure Mo will still be a big part of what we are trying to achieve because he is an amazing player and he has shown it consistently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all trying to find consistency and he needs us to be in our best shape and we need him and that\u2019s what we are all trying to find.\u201d<\/p>\n
The captain also addressed the uncertainty that attends Salah\u2019s status as the club\u2019s top earner and the transfer talk linking him to suitors in the Saudi Pro League and Major League Soccer. Van Dijk stressed that, whatever the speculation, Salah remains important inside the group.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike he should be: disappointed,\u201d said Van Dijk when asked for an update on Salah\u2019s emotions . \u201cBut we need him and he will still be important like he has been.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is still a fantastic player and we still have to remember there is a reason why he has been so successful at the club and we have to respect that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need him around as one of the leaders. I\u2019m not worried. He\u2019s disappointed but that\u2019s absolutely normal as if you\u2019re not disappointed when you\u2019re not playing two games in a row then there is an issue as well. But it\u2019s on to the next [game] now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manager Slot, previewing the trip to Leeds United, said Salah is under consideration to start and dismissed suggestions of a personal rift.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for every player in my mind can start and Mo is an exceptional player for us,\u201d Slot revealed. \u201cHe is always in my mind to either start or to come [off the bench].\u201d<\/p>\n
Slot added of the ensuing discussion: \u201cThe chatter, yes [I understand it] because he deserves that, he has been so influential for me and six or seven years,\u201d the Reds boss said. \u201cIt\u2019s completely normal people talk about it when he isn\u2019t [playing].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Van Dijk urged Mohamed Salah to remain a leader and support the squad after two games out this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,172],"tags":[983,1006,1032],"class_list":["post-4895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-epl","tag-agents","tag-captaincy","tag-contract-disputes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}