"The day has come." Those were Mohamed Salah's own words, posted in a farewell video that hit social media like a thunderbolt even though, if we're being honest, we probably all saw it coming. The Egyptian king is leaving Liverpool. A chapter that produced some of the most memorable moments in the club's modern history is drawing to a close.
Salah's contract expires at the end of this season. He won't be renewing it. His farewell match at Anfield will almost certainly be the final home game — and his last appearance in a Liverpool shirt is set to be against Brentford on May 24, the final day of the Premier League season. For a player of his magnitude, that fixture feels oddly understated. But Anfield will make it anything but.
How It Ended
The breakdown between Salah and Liverpool didn't happen overnight. The relationship with Arne Slot became increasingly strained during the season, with Salah publicly saying he felt he had been thrown "under the bus" by the club in a way that left little room for reconciliation. Liverpool had signed him to a two-year extension the previous summer on enormous terms — the biggest contract the club had ever handed a player — and things still fell apart.
Exactly who made the final call is a question that has different answers depending on who you ask. What's clear is that both sides reached a point of no return. Liverpool have moved on operationally; Salah has too. The farewell video had the feel of someone who has made peace with the decision even if the circumstances around it were painful.
Where He's Going
Saudi Arabia is the most likely destination. Al Ittihad tried to sign Salah in the summer of 2023, and the interest from the Saudi Pro League clubs — particularly the four PIF-owned franchises — has never really gone away. At 33, Salah is still capable of extraordinary performances, but the financial package available in Saudi Arabia is simply beyond what any European club is willing or able to offer a player in the final stretch of his career.
Negotiations between Salah's camp and Saudi Pro League officials are understood to be progressing. The one box that needs to be ticked, according to reports, is a guarantee of consistent playing time and a project that feels worthy of his profile. Salah hasn't spent nine years at Anfield to go somewhere and become a tourist attraction. He wants to compete.
MLS has also been floated as a possibility. The American league has been scooping up marquee names and Salah's profile would make him one of the biggest signings in the league's history. But the Saudi financial power makes that a harder sell unless Salah has a specific personal preference for the United States.
What He Leaves Behind
The numbers are staggering. Salah leaves Liverpool as the club's all-time leading scorer in the Premier League. He was the top scorer in the league multiple times. He won the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup in a Liverpool shirt. He played a fundamental role in the Jurgen Klopp revolution and then proved he was more than just a product of that system by continuing to perform at an elite level after Klopp left.
The 2021/22 season — when Liverpool came agonisingly close to an unprecedented quadruple, eventually winning the FA Cup and Carabao Cup — encapsulated what Salah meant. You just never quite knew what he was going to do next, and for nine years that quality of constant threat, constant danger, constant brilliance, was a gift that Liverpool benefited from every single week.
What Liverpool Do Now
Replacing Salah is not something you do in a single transfer window. It might take three years. The scouting team at Liverpool know this. There are names circulating — various young attackers from across Europe and South America who are seen as potential long-term replacements — but none of them walk in on day one and fill the void he leaves.
Arne Slot's challenge for next season is building an attack that functions differently rather than trying to replicate what Salah gave them. That's probably the more honest and productive approach. Liverpool's history is full of moments where they lost an irreplaceable player and found a new identity rather than a direct substitute. The hope is that this is another one of those moments.
But first, May 24. Brentford at Anfield. One final time.
Key Facts: Mohamed Salah | Liverpool FC | Departure: End of 2025/26 season | Likely destination: Saudi Pro League | Final match: vs Brentford, May 24 | Liverpool goals: All-time PL top scorer for the club
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