{"id":446630,"date":"2026-02-03T13:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T13:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/446630\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T13:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T13:53:10","slug":"mohamed-salah-may-have-to-accept-different-role-at-liverpool-and-antoine-griezmann-proves-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/446630\/","title":{"rendered":"Mohamed Salah may have to accept ‘different role’ at Liverpool and Antoine Griezmann proves it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Liverpool striker Fernando Morientes has offered his opinion on what could be next for Mohamed Salah at Anfield\"Florian<\/p>\n

Florian Wirtz celebrates with Mohamed Salah after scoring Liverpool’s third goal during the Premier League match against Newcastle United at Anfield on January 31 2026(Image: Steven Halliwell\/MI News\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Mohamed Salah has been told he may have to accept no longer being a regular in the Liverpool starting line-up in the near future – but has been backed to keep making an impact for the Premier League champions. Salah caused a commotion in early December when, having been benched for three successive games by Arne Slot, he claimed he was being scapegoated for the team’s poor form and had no relationship with the Reds boss.<\/p>\n

Having then been dropped completely for the next game at Inter in the Champions League, Salah<\/a> apologised to his team-mates and held clear-the-air talks with Slot,<\/a> and has started all four Liverpool<\/a> games since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations a fortnight ago.<\/p>\n

Salah,<\/a> who is now 33, created a Premier League record at the weekend when his assist for Florian Wirtz’s strike in the 4-1 win over Newcastle United took him on to 152 goal contributions at Anfield in the competition – a record for any player at a single stadium.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Liverpool forced into late Premier League fixture change after European failure<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

OPINION<\/p>\n

\"AuthorJohn Aldridge<\/p>\n

The Egyptian is in the last 18 months of his Anfield<\/a> contract with clubs in the Saudi Pro League expected to launch a concerted effort to sign the winger in the summer transfer window.<\/p>\n

But former Liverpool striker Fernando Morientes is convinced Salah will have a part to play for Liverpool next season but it may be similar to that of 34-year-old France World Cup winner Antoine Griezmann, who features in every game for Atletico Madrid when available but rarely as a starter.<\/p>\n

“What\u2019s been happening to Liverpool is similar to what\u2019s been happening at Real Madrid: they\u2019re not quite getting the results,” said Morientes. “Liverpool were used to winning, and their biggest star is Salah.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing is, Salah, like everyone else, is getting older, and new players keep emerging. What\u2019s clear is that what Salah has done for Liverpool is something very few players will ever do, in terms of goals, influence and leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he can still have an impact, but probably not as much as he did in the past. That said, many players become legends because of everything they\u2019ve done and because of what they contribute to the team from a different role, and Salah could be one of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking, for example, of Griezmann, a player we don\u2019t see in the starting XI every week, but who has a secondary role and accepts it well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Salah accepts something similar, he\u2019ll surely still be important for Liverpool as they are now. What I don\u2019t know is whether he\u2019ll be happy with that role or whether he\u2019ll want to look for another project where he can be the leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liverpool spent big in the summer to reconfigure their forward line with \u00a3125million Alexander Isak, \u00a3116m Wirtz and \u00a379m Hugo Ekitike all arriving.<\/p>\n

And Morientes – who scored 12 goals in 61 appearances for Liverpool – hasn’t been surprised by the initial struggles to hit the ground running.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the ECHO on behalf of Casino.org,<\/a> he added: “They\u2019ve signed players by simply spending huge amounts of money, but that doesn\u2019t automatically tell you which buttons to press to make everything work.<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball is very unpredictable and sometimes the more you spend, the less you get in return. So far, the players haven\u2019t adapted well.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a group, they haven\u2019t really clicked either, and that\u2019s why Liverpool are struggling so much at the moment. I don\u2019t see them as clear contenders to win the Premier League<\/a>, and I also find it hard to see them as genuine Champions League<\/a> contenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, they do have something others don\u2019t: those signings they made because of their talent could, at any moment, suddenly explode and completely change the team\u2019s momentum. I see it as difficult, but it could happen.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Liverpool striker Fernando Morientes has offered his opinion on what could be next for Mohamed Salah at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[1711,403,99],"class_list":["post-446630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}