‘He’s gone about it all wrong’ – Rooney claims Mohamed Salah is damaging his Liverpool legacy

Former England striker Wayne Rooney has warned that Mohamed Salah is ‘destroying his legacy’ at Liverpool after the Egyptian forward publicly criticised the club and claimed his relationship with head coach Arne Slot had collapsed.

Rooney argued that Salah’s comments have created an untenable situation and urged Slot to take decisive action.

Rooney believes the Liverpool manager, who is preparing his squad for Tuesday’s Champions League trip to Inter Milan, must assert control by removing Salah from the travelling party.

“Arne Slot has to show his authority and pull him in and say ‘you are not travelling with the team, what you said is not acceptable’,” said Rooney in his latest podcast episode.

“Take yourself off to Afcon and let everything calm down. If I was him there would be no way he would be in the team.”

“It needs to be sorted out quickly either way,” he added.

“He is absolutely destroying his legacy at Liverpool,” added the five-time Premier League winner.

“It would be sad for him to throw it all away. He’s gone about it all wrong.”

Salah, 33, has not started Liverpool’s past three matches and remained unused in Saturday’s 3-3 draw at Leeds United. His frustration became public after the match when he said he felt the club had “thrown [him] under the bus” during a difficult spell.

He claimed a breakdown in trust with Slot, saying, “All of a sudden we don’t have any relationship.”

The forward’s recent form has been patchy despite his long-term impact at Liverpool. He has scored 250 goals in 420 appearances and played a central role in last season’s Premier League title win with 29 league goals.

His last start came in a 4-1 Champions League defeat to PSV Eindhoven, and he has been used sparingly since.

Rooney questioned why Salah, who joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017 and signed a new two-year contract in April, chose to voice his frustrations publicly.