Mohamed Salah has said his Liverpool future is “in the club’s hands” and was “very disappointed” to be overlooked for the captaincy in their Champions League match with FC Midtjylland this month.
Salah, 28, expected to wear the armband for the final group D game on Dec. 9 with Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum on the bench and James Milner and Virgil van Dijk both injured.
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Manager Jurgen Klopp picked 22-year-old Trent Alexander-Arnold as captain instead, and Salah responded by scoring a first-minute goal in a 1-1 draw.
“Honestly, I was very disappointed,” Salah,who scored a first-minute goal in the 1-1 draw with Midtjylland, told Diario AS. “I was expecting to be the captain. But it’s the manager’s decision. I accept it.”
Salah has been regularly linked with La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona during a hugely successful three-and-a-half years at Anfield since joining from Roma in 2017.
His goals helped fire Liverpool to the Champions League trophy in 2019 and the Premier League, ending a 30-year wait for the club, in 2020.
“I think Madrid and Barcelona are top clubs,” he said. “We never know what’s going to happen in the future. Right now I’m focused on winning the Premier League and the Champions League again with [Liverpool].”
Salah’s contract at Anfield runs until June 2023.
“That’s a tough one,” he said, when asked how long he would stay. “Right now I can say everything is in the club’s hands. Of course I want to break records here, every record at the club, but everything is in the club’s hands.”