Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 was speaking to French television following Liverpool\u2019s win over Brighton on Saturday, where he was asked about Mohamed Salah\u2019s future at the club.<\/p>\n
The centre-back was quizzed on whether he believes Salah has already played his final match for Liverpool after the forward acknowledged the Anfield crowd at full-time \u2014 and Konat\u00e9\u2019s reply was revealing.<\/p>\n
In his explosive interview on December 6, Salah had hinted that the Premier League fixture against Brighton might be his last appearance for the Reds, with the Africa Cup of Nations approaching.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old\u2019s future has been the subject of intense speculation after he claimed Liverpool had thrown him \u201cunder the bus\u201d during a difficult start to the 2025\u201326 season, while also suggesting his relationship with head coach Arne Slot had broken down.<\/p>\n
Following his comments after the 2\u20132 draw with Leeds United, Salah was omitted from Slot\u2019s squad for the midweek Champions League victory over Inter Milan. However, talks between player and manager on Friday paved the way for his return to the matchday squad against Brighton.<\/p>\n
Named on the bench, Salah was introduced in the 26th minute after Joe Gomez was forced off injured. He went on to provide a second-half assist for Hugo Ekitike in the 2\u20130 win, a contribution that saw him surpass Wayne Rooney\u2019s record for the most goal involvements for a single club in Premier League history, moving to 277.<\/p>\n
After the final whistle, Salah was seen smiling as he applauded the Kop, with supporters serenading him with the familiar \u201cMo Salah running down the wing\u201d chant.<\/p>\n
Despite that show of affection, uncertainty remains over his future ahead of the January transfer window. Konat\u00e9, though, appeared to offer reassurance when speaking to Canal+.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, no, I don\u2019t think so,\u201d he said when asked if Salah had played his last game for Liverpool. \u201cYou could see today how much he loves this club. People have to understand the frustration players can feel when they\u2019ve had such a career and given so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cHe\u2019s a player everyone loves \u2014 the coach loves him, he loves the coach. At this club, everyone loves each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interest in Salah would be inevitable should he decide to move on. Earlier this week, Saudi Pro League chief executive Omar Mugharbel confirmed that several Saudi clubs are keen on the forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuhammad Salah is welcome in the Saudi League, but negotiations are handled by the clubs,\u201d he said at the World Football Summit. \u201cHe is certainly one of the targets.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to The Telegraph, Al Hilal, Al Nassr, Al Ittihad, Al Ahli and Al Qadsiah are all prepared to make an approach.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Arne Slot also addressed Salah\u2019s situation after the Brighton match, confirming he expects the winger to return after AFCON duty.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. He is a Liverpool player and when he\u2019s here, I want to use him when we need him,\u201d Slot said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t start today, as in recent games, but before that he started almost every match. He gave the performance you\u2019d expect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slot added: \u201cHe was close to another assist, nearly scored when Federico [Chiesa] set him up, and he was a constant threat \u2014 which is very important.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 was speaking to French television following Liverpool\u2019s win over Brighton on Saturday, where he was asked about Mohamed Salah\u2019s future at the club. The centre-back was quizzed on whether he believes Salah has already played his final match for Liverpool after the forward acknowledged the Anfield crowd at full-time \u2014 and Konat\u00e9\u2019s reply …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":56698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/resize-3-1.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56699,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56697\/revisions\/56699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}