Gerrard Recalls "Emotional" Heart-to-Heart with Salah Over Slot Fallout; Opens Up on His Own Liverpool Row

Steven Gerrard has shed light on a frank conversation he had with Mohamed Salah in the wake of the Egyptian's very public row with Arne Slot last December, revealing he urged the forward to depart Anfield with dignity intact.

Salah's frustrations boiled over after finding himself frozen out of consecutive matchday squads, leading him to publicly declare he had been "thrown under the bus" and that no working relationship existed between himself and Slot. The situation escalated further when he was omitted from Liverpool's Champions League roster ahead of their Inter Milan victory, though he was restored to favour following his Africa Cup of Nations involvement.

Speaking candidly on the Overlap podcast, Gerrard disclosed that he reached out to Salah directly in the immediate aftermath of his outburst. "I spoke to him around that interview at the time. I said, 'Don't do what you've done and go under a cloud' — yeah, I spoke to him direct," Gerrard explained.

The pair maintain an ongoing correspondence, with Gerrard noting that text messages occasionally pass between them, particularly when opportunities arise for his son Leo to catch a glimpse of the Liverpool winger. Gerrard seized the moment to impart some wisdom to his former teammate.

"You've been here for eight or nine years. You've been a king here; you've got this legacy. Go on your terms, the right way," Gerrard recalled telling him.

When pressed on Salah's reaction, Gerrard painted a picture of a player still raw from recent events. "He was still a little emotional at the time from the incidents," he said. "He was a sub. He was in and out of the team at the time. He was upset. I thought it would have been a shame if he left in January, and he just left."

The legendary midfielder drew parallels to his own experience, recounting a similar tension that arose during his playing days with former boss Brendan Rodgers. Having since stepped into management himself, Gerrard offered a more nuanced perspective on the complexities of such situations.

"I understand both sides of it now, I have been a manager myself, I understand both sides," he reflected. "But when I look back at it now, and I am out of the game and on the other side of it and less emotional, you understand it from where Brendan is. I maybe wasn't the same player at 34."

Gerrard acknowledged the difficult position players find themselves in when their place in the side becomes uncertain, despite feeling they remain among the club's finest talents. "There's no rule where you have to play every minute because you're the captain, but at the time, it's not easy," he noted. "When you're in the squad, and you're about to play United, and you look at the squad, and you think, 'I am as good if not better than those players.' It's difficult in the player's situation."

As it stands, Salah appears set to depart Liverpool at the conclusion of this season in an orderly fashion, with both player and club having agreed to part company despite a year remaining on his contract.