Mo Salah shortlisted for major award amid calls for him to be dropped from Liverpool starting XI
Mo Salah is currently enduring one of the toughest spells of his distinguished Liverpool career, but there has been some welcome personal news for the 33-year-old this week.
The Egyptian winger has only scored three times in 11 matches so far this season and is without a goal in five games ahead of the Reds’ Champions League clash against Eintracht Frankfurt tonight (Transfermarkt).
Such have been his struggles that Jamie Carragher has even begged the question as to whether Arne Slot should ruthlessly drop our number 11 from the starting XI, something that the head coach actually did in our last European fixture away to Galatasaray three weeks ago.
Although Salah’s fortunes of late have taken a downturn, there’s been a friendly reminder over the past couple of days that class is permanent.
Salah nominated for African Men’s Player of the Year
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced the nominees for their 2025 Awards (via cafonline.com), and the Liverpool star is on the 10-man shortlist for the Men’s Player of the Year.
There are two other current Premier League players among the candidates – Iliman Ndiaye and Pape Matar Sarr – and the list also includes Paris Saint-Germain star Achraf Hakimi and Galatasaray striker Victor Osimhen, who scored against the Reds in the Champions League last month.
Salah has had a fantastic year despite recent struggles
It was only a month ago that Salah finished fourth in the voting for the Ballon d’Or, with his recent slump in form betraying what has been a fantastic past 12 months for the Liverpool winger.
He won the Premier League Golden Boot for the fourth time last season, with his 29 goals proving instrumental in the Reds’ runaway triumph, and he ended the campaign with 34 goals and 22 assists in all competitions (Transfermarkt).
He’s also had a memorable year on the international front, netting four times for Egypt as they clinched qualification for the 2026 World Cup a fortnight ago, while he’s set to spearhead their tilt at continental glory in the Africa Cup of Nations over the winter.
Salah has been well below his best in recent weeks, but there’s no disputing that he’s still a world-class footballer who remains capable of consistently conjuring match-winning moments for club and country.
Hopefully he can scoop the CAF Men’s Player of the Year prize for the third time (after 2017 and 2018) and soon get back among the goals in a Liverpool shirt!
You can watch Slot’s full post-Manchester United press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
The post Mo Salah shortlisted for major award amid calls for him to be dropped from Liverpool starting XI appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.