Arne Slot has responded after Mohamed Salah said he was ‘disappointed’ with the lack of progress made in negotiations over a new Liverpool contract.
Salah has enjoyed an electric start to the season under Slot, scoring twice in a 3-2 win over Southampton last weekend to make it 10 goals in just 12 Premier League games.
Despite that, the Eygyptain faces an uncertain future at Anfield with just over six months remaining on his current deal.
The 32-year-old was keen to vent his frustrations after the Reds’ win on Sunday, suggesting he is still yet to receive a firm offer from the club to extend his stay on Merseyside.
‘We are almost in December and I haven’t received an offer to stay at the club yet so I am probably more out than in,’ he said.
‘I’m not going to retire soon. I’m focusing on the season and I’m trying to win the Premier League and hopefully the Champions League as well. I’m disappointed but we will see.’
It is not the first time that Salah has hinted at a potential departure from Liverpool at the end of the season, but Slot, who would not disclose details over the progress of negotiations, insisted the Egyptian remains as focused as ever.
‘I’ve said many times that we don’t share this [details about negotiations] over here,’ Slot said ahead of Liverpool’s Champions League tie with Real Madrid.
‘The only thing I can say is that if I look at my lineups, Mo is more in than out. That quote I can give you.’
Slot continued: ‘I don’t think he is distracted at all, I haven’t seen that after the Manchester United game when he made some comments or after a post [on social media] which you told me about, I didn’t see anything today in training.
‘He’s just fully focused on the game tomorrow and I think these kinds of things are big in the media and with fans but I didn’t see one player talk about it at training, at least while I was there.
‘Players are also focused on the short term and that is Madrid and Manchester City [at the weekend] and by the time Mo’s contract is extended, players don’t look at it that way. We as a club of course do but the players don’t.
‘So I don’t think there are any distractions for him or the players and definitely not for me. I was working yesterday on preparing the team in the best possible way and there was not one time where I thought about sitting here today talking about Mo.’
Salah is not the only Liverpool player facing an uncertain future at the club, with Virgin van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s contracts also expiring at the end of the season, but full-back Andy Robertson insisted the squad were not getting distracted by off-field issues.
‘I thought that was going to be your first question to be fair!’ the Scot joked. ‘For us as players, it’s nothing that we can really get involved in.
‘All I’ll say is Mo is the ultimate professional and in fairness, it goes for all three of them – Mo, Virgil [van Dijk] and Trent [Alexander-Arnold] – who are all in similar positions.
‘Every one of them is so focused on the next game and training and preparing properly. They’ve been leaders this year and that’s the way they’ve done it.
‘For us inside the dressing room, if they can do that, we can do that and not get distracted.’
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