Liverpool are staring down the barrel of a full blown crisis and the critics are circling after Mohamed Salah’s bombshell exit announcement sent shockwaves through Anfield.
The Egyptian king dropped the mother of all grenades this week, confirming he’ll walk away at the end of the season in a video that left an entire generation of Reds fans reaching for the tissues. Nine years of magic, 200 plus goals, and now a future without their No.11 to come to terms with.
It wasn’t entirely out of the blue. His contract was ticking down, and that infamous December rant aimed at the club’s hierarchy suggested all was not well behind the scenes. But still, seeing it officially confirmed? That hurt.
And now the fallout has well and truly begun.
With Arne Slot’s own future still shrouded in uncertainty heading into the 2026/27 campaign, the spotlight has turned to who might be next in the Anfield hotseat. Step forward Xabi Alonso.
The former Reds midfield maestro has been out of work since his dismissal from Real Madrid, but according to BILD Sport, he’s ready to listen if Liverpool come calling. There’s just one catch.
Alonso wants control. Real control.
The Spaniard was reportedly denied the level of input he wanted on squad planning at the Bernabeu, and he’s not about to make the same mistake twice. If he’s coming back to Merseyside, it’ll be on his terms with real authority over recruitment and team building.
He’d no doubt be quite happy if that meant reuniting with former charges Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong, two players he knows well from his time in Germany. Whether Liverpool’s data driven recruitment model would allow that level of influence is another question entirely.
But while the Alonso speculation swirls, the Salah fallout has already produced one brutal verdict.
Step forward Jason Cundy. The talkSPORT pundit went in with both feet, claiming Liverpool handed the colossal £400,000 a week deal to the wrong player entirely.
“All the Liverpool fans phoning up moaning about Trent, about what happened, they turned down £20m from Real Madrid,” Cundy fumed on the Sports Bar.
“They gave Mo Salah a two year contract on £400,000 a week, they gave the contract to the wrong player! They should have given that money to Trent, in his prime. So he’s walked on a free, they’ve both walked on a free.
“They’ve put their eggs in the wrong basket, Liverpool. They’ve ballsed this right up, they should have given Trent, at the peak of his powers, give him what he wanted, sit down, do the deal, do the deal earlier, and let Salah go.
“Now all of a sudden, you find they’ve gone on a free… wow! I mean, that is a mess… that is an absolute mess.”
Harsh? Maybe. But there’s no denying the optics are ugly.
Liverpool handed Salah a mega money extension during his historic 2024/25 campaign, a season that ended with the Premier League title back at Anfield. At the time, it felt like the natural order of things. Now, with both Salah and Alexander Arnold set to walk for nothing, the decision making is being picked apart.
The transition Slot was tasked with overseeing has now hit a sizeable new hurdle. And with Alonso waiting in the wings demands firmly in place, the next chapter at Anfield could look very different indeed.
