Mohamed Salah had issues with two Liverpool team

Mohamed Salah had issues with two Liverpool team-mates including star bought by Arne Slot

Mohamed Salah has spoken on two of his Liverpool team-mates in the past, for different reasons

Outgoing Liverpool icon Mohamed Salah has not been afraid to really tell it like it is when it comes to his team-mates over the years. In fact, the Reds hero has openly discussed sharing the pitch with ex-Reds winger Sadio Mane and new signing, Hugo Ekitike, for very different reasons.

Salah shocked the football world last week when he announced that he would be leaving Liverpool in the summer after nine years at the club. The Egyptian is third on the Reds' all-time top scorers list and was the star on whom much of the club's recent success hinged.

A lot of that success was achieved through Salah's deadly frontline partnership with Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino under Jurgen Klopp. While the Premier League and Champions League-winning trio were a huge hit on the pitch, there were often questions over the relationship between Salah and Senegal star Mane.

Salah has admitted that a “tension” existed between the two, with the pair once famously clashing away to Burnley after Salah failed to pass to Mane. They have also battled while on duty at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Speaking to French outlet L’Equipe, Salah conceded that he and Mane were not friends. “Yes, there was tension with Sadio,” Salah said, adding: “Mind you, we were professional until the end, I don’t think it affected the team.

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“It’s human to want more, I understand that, he’s a competitor. Off the pitch, we weren’t very close, but we always respected each other.”

Salah also addressed reports that Mane considered the winger to have a selfish streak when on the ball. “I don’t care. People can think what they want, it’s their right,” he added.

“But I invite everyone to note that the person who provided Mane with the most assists is me. We can look at the facts, but it’s obviously easier to throw out phrases like that; it makes the headlines, I know how it works.

“As long as it remains within the limits of respect, that’s fine with me. But that doesn’t mean that this opinion is true. At the end of the day, I know what I did, and my conscience is clear.”

Earlier this season, the 33-year-old also opened up on adjusting to life with a new strike force around him. Salah acknowledged he was yet to figure out his new team-mates, with him playing alongside Arne Slot's new attacking signings Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak.

Speaking to the Men In Blazers podcast, the forward pinpointed an issue with Ekitike, and the rest of his new teammates, explaining he would require time to gel with them.

“So far, I didn't figure the connections out yet,” said Salah. “Like with Darwin [Nunez] or Lucho [Luis Diaz] or the guys they used to play in front, or Diogo [Jota]. I knew where to start with Diogo or Darwin. I know where to find them. I knew their game very well but with Hugo he's still new.

“Sometimes I need the ball in the field. Sometimes we need [it] in the space. We try to figure that out, through the training sessions or like the videos. The manager shows us. So I will figure it out soon because also it's going to help my game to grow as well.”

While Liverpool have continued to struggle in the Premier League this season, Ekitike, 23, appears to have developed a rapport with his strike partners, scoring 17 goals and providing 6 assists so far.

Salah, meanwhile, will leave the Reds in the summer, despite signing a new two-year deal at the end of last season. However, it's currently unclear where the Premier League icon will play his football once he leaves Anfield.

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