Why is Mohamed Salah leaving Liverpool? Anfield icon announces stunning departure at end of 2025/26 season

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Why is Mohamed Salah leaving Liverpool? Anfield icon announces stunning departure at end of 2025/26 season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Mohamed Salah has announced he will leave Liverpool at the end of the 2025/26 season.

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The 33-year-old Egypt international has won every major club trophy he has competed for since joining the Reds from Roma in June 2017, including Premier League titles in 2019/20 and 2024/25 and the Champions League in 2018/19.

Salah is the third-highest scorer in Liverpool history, with 255 goals, while his 191 Premier League goals put him fourth in the competition's all-time standings.

The Sporting News breaks down the reasons for his departure now, considering he still has another year left on his Liverpool contract.

MORE:Where will Mohamed Salah sign after his departure from Liverpool? Reviewing the options

Why is Mohamed Salah leaving Liverpool?

Salah's departure comes as something of a surprise, given he signed a lucrative contract extension last season that ran until June 2027.

However, the reigning PFA and FWA Player of the Year has not hit the heights he did during Liverpool's title-winning campaign last term, with 10 goals and nine assists a significant downturn from the incredible numbers he has posted through the heights of his Liverpool tenure.

While it was expected he would remain through the end of his two-year contract, things boiled over when Salah issued a stunning public rebuke to head coach Arne Slot after being dropped from the first team in December.

That flashpoint was navigated once Salah returned from Africa Cup of Nations duty in the new year, but the damage had been done, and the Egypt international was either unable or unwilling to recover his standing in the team with a return to his prior form.

Now Liverpool and the Premier League must begin the process of bidding farewell to one of the greatest players ever to grace those stages.

MORE:Liverpool vs. Galatasaray score, result, stats, talking points, highlights as Salah hits 50th UCL goal for rampant Reds

What did Mohamed Salah say about leaving Liverpool?

Salah posted on social media to announce his departure on Tuesday, March 24.

“Hello, everyone. Unfortunately the day has come,” Salah said in a message posted on social media. "This is the first part of my farewell. I will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.

"I wanted to start by saying that I never imagined how deeply this club, this city, this people, would become part of my life.

"Liverpool is not just a football club, it’s a passion, it’s a history, it's a spirit. I can’t explain in words to anyone not part of this club.

"We celebrated victory, we won the most important trophies, and we fought together through the hardest time in our life.

"I want to thank everyone who was part of this club throughout my time here, especially the teammates, past and present, and to the fans… I don’t have enough words: the support you showed me through the best time of my career and you stood by me in the toughest times, it’s something I will never forget. And something I will take with me always.

"Leaving is never easy. You gave me the best time of my life, I will be always one of you. This club will always be my home to me and to my family. Thank you for everything. Because of all of you, I will never walk alone."

Analysis: Breaking down why Mohamed Salah is leaving Liverpool

As Liverpool swaggered towards a dominant Premier League title last season, Salah ended speculation over his future by committing to a new contract until June 2027 in April last year.

Liverpool, in truth, had no choice in the matter. As Salah racked up 34 goals and laid on 23 assists in a remarkable individual campaign across all competitions, they knew keeping the Egypt international was critical. As Salah swept the major end-of-season awards in England, he would sign on for two more years at Anfield and the future looked bright. He appeared to be a player revitalised, even slightly liberated by Slot's less intense style when compared to his predecessor Jurgen Klopp.

Salah and Klopp were two towering figures of a great era for Liverpool. They won it all, yet their relationship appeared slightly frayed during the German's final season at the helm in 2023/24. However, that was nothing compared to Salah's blow-up after he watched December's dramatic 3-3 draw at Leeds United as an unused substitute.

 "I'm very disappointed. I have done so much for this club. Everybody can see that through the years, especially last season.

"Sitting on the bench... I don't know why. It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That's how I feel it. I think it's very clear that someone wants me to get all the blame.

"The club promised me in the summer a lot of promises and now I'm on the bench for three games, so I can't say that they kept their promises."

Salah's mention of promises in the summer felt particularly pointed, given Liverpool spent in excess of £400 million ($535m) retooling their title-winning squad with the additions of Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike. From being the undisputable main man, he looked lost amid a misfiring collective.

Wirtz underwent a long adaptation to life in England before showing his best form and Isak's debut season at Anfield has been wrecked by injury. More broadly, Slot has searched unsuccessfully for balance in his new-look attack, and one solution explored in December was to put an off-form Salah on the bench.

The player hinted Liverpool's final home match before his departure to AFCON against Brighton could be his last. He climbed down from that drastic course of action and has long since returned to the starting XI. When he netted a 50th Champions League goal for Liverpool in last week's 4-0 thrashing of Galatasaray, Salah showed flashes of his brilliant best.

But, more broadly, there appears to be an acceptance from a majestic footballer that his peak years are at an end. Salah will be the last of the era-defining forward line of himself, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino to leave Anfield. It feels like there is a strong chance he follows in their footsteps by moving to the Saudi Pro League. Trent Alexander-Arnold left last summer, Andy Robertson is likely to follow this year. Virgil van Dijk and Alisson are the last key men standing from Klopp's greatest teams.

Slot should not be seen as a major factor in Salah's decision, as Liverpool's wider dwindling form means his position is under increasingly heavy scrutiny.

Salah's mention of "the hardest time of our life" is important to note, given it is almost certainly a reference to the tragic death of his teammate and friend Diogo Jota in a car accident last summer. When Salah scored during Liverpool's first home game of this season against Bournemouth at Anfield, he was visibly emotional. It's impossible to quantify and will very from person to person, but the collective grief in the aftermath of the tragedy is likely to have taken a heavy toll on many of those who were close to Jota.

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