Mohamed Salah has announced that he will leave Liverpool at the end of the 2025–26 season, bringing down the curtain on one of the most consequential careers in the club’s modern history. The news broke on Tuesday through an emotional social media video from the Egyptian forward and was subsequently confirmed by Liverpool, which said Salah had reached an agreement with the club to end his “remarkable nine-year chapter” at Anfield this summer.
The departure is significant not simply because Liverpool are losing a star, but because they are preparing to say goodbye to a player who has become one of the defining figures of the post-Klopp era and one of the greatest forwards in the club’s history. Since arriving from Roma in 2017, Salah has scored 255 goals in 435 appearances, placing him third on Liverpool’s all-time scoring list, while helping the club win two Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, the FA Cup, two League Cups and a Community Shield.
Where this happened is, in many ways, the point. Liverpool is not merely the club Salah plays for. It is the place where he became a global football icon. Anfield gave him scale, visibility and mythology. In turn, he gave Liverpool goals, silverware and one of the most productive spells any Premier League attacker has ever assembled. Liverpool’s official announcement emphasised that Salah wanted to make the news public early out of “respect and gratitude” for supporters. Reuters reported that he described the moment as “the first part of my farewell,” saying he would leave at the end of the season.
What we know, for now, is clear on the essentials. Salah is leaving at the end of the current campaign. Liverpool have confirmed it. Salah has confirmed it. The club has also made clear that, with trophies still on the line, the full celebration of his legacy will come later, after the season concludes. What remains less clear is where he goes next. Neither Liverpool nor Salah has announced a destination, leaving the field open for speculation around a move abroad, including persistent Saudi Pro League interest that has shadowed him for several windows. Reuters noted that he had been linked with a lucrative move to Saudi Arabia, but no next step has yet been made official.
Salah’s farewell message was carefully pitched. He thanked teammates past and present, and reserved special warmth for supporters, saying the club and city had become part of his life in ways he had never imagined. In Liverpool’s publication of his full message, he called the club “a passion, a history, a spirit,” and said the fans had given him “the best time” of his life. That emotional register matters because Salah’s story at Liverpool has never been only statistical. It has also been cultural. He became one of the most beloved Muslim athletes in English football, one of the most marketable African players in the world, and one of the few modern stars whose relationship with a club’s fan base genuinely reshaped the mood and image of the institution.
Who was involved in this decision goes beyond player and club. Liverpool’s official statement frames it as a mutually agreed conclusion. Reuters adds the context that Salah’s final season has been uneven by his own exalted standards, with a dip in form and a public clash with manager Arne Slot contributing to a sense that the relationship was entering a new phase. Reuters reported that Salah had accused the club of “throwing me under the bus” after being left out for multiple matches, and that he later found himself benched for several key fixtures. Even so, the final weeks have shown flashes of the old brilliance, including what Reuters described as a “jaw-dropping” goal against Galatasaray in the Champions League.
Who else was involved, indirectly, is the Liverpool leadership structure that must now plan for succession, the supporters who will shape the emotional atmosphere of his final months, and the global market that will inevitably compete for his signature. Salah is 33. He is leaving not as a fading squad player, but as a footballer whose résumé and commercial value still command elite attention. That makes this a football decision with strategic implications. Liverpool are not just losing goals. They are losing brand value, experience, fear factor and one of the club’s most bankable identities.
The wider context is what elevates this from a transfer story to an era-defining moment. Salah’s Liverpool career coincided with one of the most successful periods the club has enjoyed in the Premier League era. He was central to the side that restored Liverpool to the summit of English and European football. His individual 2024–25 campaign, Reuters noted, was regarded as one of the best in league history, with 29 Premier League goals and 18 assists in 38 matches, tying the overall record for goal involvements in a season and setting the benchmark for a 38-game campaign. He also won the Premier League Player of the Season, the Golden Boot and the Playmaker Award in the same year. That recent brilliance is part of what makes the departure feel so weighty. He is leaving with his legacy settled, not rescued.
The implications are immediate. Liverpool must now prepare for life after Salah in tactical, emotional and commercial terms. Replacing 255 goals is not a straightforward recruitment task. Replacing the aura is harder still. For African football, his exit from Liverpool closes one of the continent’s most visible club chapters of the last decade. For Egypt, it raises fresh questions about workload, career longevity and how he balances club transition with national-team responsibility. For supporters, it means the rest of the season will now be played through a different emotional lens. Every goal, every assist and every Anfield appearance will carry the feeling of countdown.
The way forward is straightforward in theory, but emotionally complex in practice. Liverpool say the focus remains on finishing the season as strongly as possible, and Salah himself appears to want that same ending. The farewell will come later. For now, the final chapter is still being written. Liverpool still have matches to win. Salah still has a jersey to wear. But the story has now changed. The question is no longer whether one of Anfield’s great modern icons will leave. It is how Liverpool, and Salah, make sure the ending matches the scale of everything that came before.
Primary sources:
Liverpool announcement: https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/mohamed-salah-leave-liverpool-end-season
Liverpool full message: https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/full-mohamed-salahs-message-liverpool-supporters
Reuters report: https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/salah-leave-liverpool-end-season-2026-03-24/
Salah’s farewell post on X: https://x.com/mosalah/status/203651168072570
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