‘The Egyptian King’ | OneFootball

There are different ways of ending Liverpool careers. Steven Gerrard’s was among the most ignominious, a Champions League-winning captain departing after a 6-1 defeat to Stoke City. Kenny Dalglish’s was more sentimental, as a substitute in a team who had already won the league in 1990.

Dalglish was brought on by the manager – himself – which meant he had two further exits, standing down in 1991, being dismissed in 2012.

Mohamed Salah has arguably joined Gerrard and Dalglish in a trinity; of Liverpool’s three greatest ever players. He stands third for goals, behind only Ian Rush and Roger Hunt, with a better goal-per-game ratio than either.

Indeed, of the Anfield centurions, no one since World War 2 has scored at a faster rate than Salah. In as much as assists can be calculated in previous eras, Salah lies fifth – Dalglish and Gerrard are at the top of that particular table – and, of those with at least 40, only the Scot and Alan A’Court – who starred in the old Division 2 – created more goals per game.

And that is despite Salah’s anti-climactic, at times angry, final year. A man who has rarely even been booked was in effect suspended by Liverpool for the Champions League trip to Inter Milan, after saying he had been “thrown under the bus” and that he had no relationship with Arne Slot.

His penultimate appearance, in a 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa, was less noteworthy than the social-media posts the following day; Liverpool, he said, were “crumbling”.

There will be a fond farewell at Anfield on Sunday, and there are tributes aplenty from teammates past and present. Yet this has the feel of less of a celebration of Salah than it might have been; with relations frayed, with Salah in decline, with the sense the contract that seemed a coup when signed last year is now a mistake, when he goes a year before its end.

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Liverpool's Mohamed Salah with manager Arne Slot after being substituted (Reuters)

The Anfield public are nevertheless likely to serenade their Egyptian king one last time. Slot could be forgiven for having more nuanced feelings; not mentioned by name, he nevertheless felt the target of Salah’s social-media messages.

But he has spent much of the season praising Salah in public. He has kept his dignity and displayed his diplomacy. “Mo and I both have the same interest, we want the best for this club,” he said. The Salah he will remember, he claimed, was the unstoppable figure of 2024-25, not the more unhappy version apparent at times of late.

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Liverpool manager Arne Slot reacts on the touchline during Friday night’s 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa (PA Wire)

“One hundred percent last season,” said Slot. “I think he said and that means even more than when I said it because he has won so many things at this club, he said the most special thing I have won was last season’s Premier League title.

"Now I can safely say that was the most special thing I have won in my life so I will remember that and how important he was in that season for the club and as a result also for me with all the goals he scored. We, as a club, as a team, weren’t on the same heights this season but I will 100 percent mainly remember him for last season and the fans should maybe remember him for all these seasons that he played for us.”

Salah’s penultimate campaign, and his first under Slot, was arguably his finest of an outstanding set of eight. He scored 44 in the first, threatening Rush’s club record of 47. But his first year under Slot produced 34 goals and 23 assists in all competitions, scoring 29 and making 18 in the Premier League alone. He was named Footballer of the Year for a third time.

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Mohamed Salah is due to play his final game for Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday (PA)

That was the Salah that Jurgen Klopp called an all-time great, who Trent Alexander-Arnold said had a relentless drive to be the best, who Alisson called one of the most important footballers in Liverpool’s history, who Virgil van Dijk described as a once-in-a-lifetime player.

This season, as Salah’s powers have waned, as Liverpool have struggled, as he lost his place in the team, as his goal tally dropped to seven in the Premier League and 12 in all competitions, has had a cruelty for him. But whereas Slot – in conjunction with the club hierarchy – dropped him for December’s display of dissent, the peacekeeper in him is unlikely to deny him a farewell and the pragmatist in him knows Liverpool may need a goal against Brentford.

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Mohamed Salah of Liverpool reacts against Aston Villa (Getty)

There is one last goal for a man who scored in Liverpool’s 2019 Champions League final win: to simply get Champions League football. Liverpool must hope Salah’s last game is more like Dalglish’s than Gerrard’s.

But Slot said: “I think it was also one of the things Mo said in his post that he also understands how important qualification for the Champions League is for us.” A 258th goal could be part of his legacy. But if Slot may be relieved the Salah era ends there, he will think of the Egyptian at his best. And for eight years, that was astonishingly good.