Is It the End of Mo Salah’s Reign?

The English Premier League is approaching the conclusion of the 2025-26 season, with the title race heating up between Arsenal and perennial champions Manchester City. The race is likely to go down to the wire, undecided until the final few match days in May.

Missing from the conversation are the reigning champions Liverpool, who sealed the title last season with several weeks to spare. This year they are in sixth place, having endured a shocking drop-off in form that may see them miss out on a spot in the European Champions League next season. Central to that dominant performance last year, and perhaps to the collapse of this year, is the team’s Egyptian legend Mohamed Salah.

Analysts have puzzled over the reason for Liverpool’s massive drop-off, attributing it to factors ranging from the death of well-liked Portuguese star Diogo Jota in a summer accident, and the impact of his untimely demise on the team’s psyche, to poor recruitment in the summer (and the sale of stars like the Colombian Luis Díaz), when the club spent over 400 million pounds on star strikers rather than on positions that the team needed shoring up. But looming over all of this is Salah’s collapse in form, a fall from grace that the club could not have anticipated when they renewed his contract last spring and that may see him leave at the end of the season, after a 10-year run in which he was central to bringing about a golden age for the Merseyside club.

Salah essentially carried Liverpool to the Premier League title last season, putting in one of the greatest individual seasons of any player in the tournament’s history, one perhaps even worthy of the Ballon d’Or, soccer’s highest individual award. He appeared in each of Liverpool’s 38 matches, scored 29 goals and made 18 assists. He was the league’s top goal scorer, and his 47 goal involvements were the highest ever in the history of the 38-team league.

This season, by contrast, Salah scored four goals and made six assists. Worse, his performances don’t meet the eye test. The 34-year-old winger looks sluggish — he can’t outrun his markers anymore, his dribbling is subpar and his finishing is miles below his confident, powerful best from yesteryear. There are still flashes of brilliance, both for Liverpool and the Egyptian national team, which against all odds he led to a semifinal berth at the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco in January. But the moment when Liverpool and Egypt fans will ask what’s next is fast approaching.

Salah has bristled every time he’s been benched at Liverpool, and the din around his decline has gathered pace, with his Egyptian fans in particular expressing their chagrin. But it is hard to shake off the sense that it’s the end of an era. A summer exit appears almost inevitable at this point. There are rumors of great interest from Saudi Arabia, which has sought marquee signings as a way to drum up interest in its local league, attracting global stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, Liverpool’s Sadio Mane and Darwin Núñez, and Portugal’s João Félix. Salah has not commented on these rumors and, given his competitive nature, he’s more likely to want to stay at Liverpool or seek a challenge elsewhere in Europe’s leagues.

As an Egyptian, it’s hard to watch Salah’s poor form. He led Egypt to its two World Cup appearances since 1990, and two AFCON finals in 2017 and 2021, after our league was decimated in the aftermath of the 2013 coup and the violence leading up to it. Whatever happens, he deserves a proper send-off as one of the all-time greats of Liverpool and the Premier League.