Liverpool boss Slot says Salah is a victim of his own high standards

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·27 February 2026

Liverpool boss Slot says Salah is a victim of his own high standards

Mohamed Salah may be experiencing the worst goal drought of his Premier League career, but Liverpool manager Arne Slot believes the Egyptian forward is paying the price for his own high standards.

Salah, 33, has won the Golden Boot four times as the top scorer in the English top flight since arriving at Anfield in 2017, the latest being in last season's title campaign. However, he is now nine league matches without scoring.

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This is his worst streak in the Premier League, but Slot, speaking before Saturday's home match against West Ham, told reporters: “He set his own standards and they are so high that the moment he doesn't score for a few games, people are immediately surprised – that's the highest compliment he can receive.”

The Dutch coach, whose team is in sixth place in the table and three points away from a Champions League spot, added: “We are used to Mo scoring many goals and, at this moment, that is perhaps the biggest difference in his performance and playing time. But we also know this has happened before. I don't know if it happened for nine consecutive games, but I've had these questions before, if he didn't score for three or five, but I know that, in the end, he always comes back to scoring. He is not our only forward at the moment who is not scoring as much as we are used to. The focus is entirely on him because of everything he has done for the club, but Hugo (Ekitike) and Cody (Gakpo) haven't scored many goals recently either. It's a team issue that we need to improve.”

Financial Evolution

Meanwhile, Liverpool announced that they returned to profit after last season's title, with a pre-tax surplus of £15.2 million (about R$ 104.16 million), largely due to a £60 million increase (more than R$ 104.16 million) in media revenues.

However, performance bonuses, along with contract renewals for high-profile stars like Salah and captain Virgil van Dijk, have helped leave Liverpool with the highest wage bill in the Premier League, with staff expenses rising by £42 million (R$ 291.65 million), reaching £428 million (R$ 2.9 billion).

This put Liverpool ahead of Manchester City, whose staff costs in the same season were £408 million.

As these figures refer to the 2024/25 campaign, with the accounting period ending on May 31, they do not include Liverpool's £450 million (R$ 3.1 billion) summer transfer market spending on players like Alexander Isak (British transfer record), Florian Wirtz, and Ekitike.

Liverpool's financial director, Jenny Beacham, said the numbers are welcome but warned that tougher times may lie ahead.

“The club faces significant cost challenges, including increases in administrative, operational, and staff costs, along with the need to compete at the highest level of the sport, both in our men's and women's teams.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.