MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – After helping Liverpool administer an emphatic 3-0 victory over Manchester United, Mohamed Salah revealed that this would be his last season at Anfield.
The Egyptian, who is the highest scoring visiting player to Old Trafford in Premier League history with seven goals, netted and provided two assists for Luis Diaz as Liverpool continued life under new boss Arne Slot in perfect fashion this season.
United were no match for their arch rivals from start to finish, and could have suffered greater humiliation had Salah and his teammates finished off several other late chances.
While other Liverpool players celebrated their resounding success, Salah stole the headlines with his post-match thoughts.
“I had a good summer, a long time to stay with myself and think positively a bit, this is my last year with the club and I want to enjoy it,” the 32-year-old told Sky Sports.
“I feel I am free to play football — we will see what happens next year. Nobody in the club has talked to me about contracts. It is not up to me, it is up to the club.”
Slot’s dream start to life in England continued as he became the first Liverpool manager to win his first meeting with United since Bob Paisley in November 1975, and just the second to do so away from home after George Kay in November 1936.
There was only one topic on everyone’s lips after the match, however, even given the nature of the success.
“There is a lot of ifs, but at this moment he is one of ours and I am really happy with him,” Slot said. “I don’t talk about contracts. He was impressive, like the first two games but if you talk about an individual, you don’t do justice to the other ones.
“Everything what you want to see as a manager you saw in this game. There were difficult moments for us, United started really well but then we have disallowed goal and there was no negative reaction, we kept on playing, scoring three, could have scored more.”
United boss Erik ten Hag, after a second humbling in the space of a week following last Saturday’s last-gasp loss at Brighton and Hove Albion, was less upbeat.
“It’s not like I’m Harry Potter, that is what you have to acknowledge,” Ten Hag said.
“I don’t think (we make the same mistakes every week), otherwise you wouldn’t win trophies as we did and to beat big opponents.”
(Reporting by Peter Hall, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
