Mohamed Salah is destroying his legacy at Liverpool – Wayne Rooney

  Wayne Rooney has accused Mohamed Salah of disrespecting Liverpool and tarnishing his legacy after his rant which threw his future into question. Salah insisted he had been “thrown under the bus” by Liverpool, and claimed he had no relationship with manager Arne Slot, after he was unused substitute in a 3-3 draw at Leeds United. Salah has been benched for three matches in a row amid Liverpool’s dreadful run of form. Rooney told the BBC: “Why would you come out and say that?  “Salah has been incredible for Liverpool. As a player he is quiet, he keeps himself to himself. “Last year he was vocal about not being offered a new contract. He deserves to get the money he gets. But then you can’t flip it and say what he said. “It was disrespectful to his teammates, to his manager, to the fans.  “Time catches up with all of us. This season he hasn’t been at his best, he hasn’t been at his sharpest. Clearly, Slot has seen that and put him on the bench.  “He’s one of the main players, if not the main player at Liverpool over the past few seasons. You want to see him roll his sleeves up.  “To have the arrogance to say that he doesn’t have to earn his place? You need to be at your best every week to stay in the team.  “If I was one of his teammate I wouldn’t be happy at all with what he said. This is when they need him most. If anything, he has thrown Liverpool under the bus with his words.”  Rooney advised Salah: “He’s either got to speak to the manager, and put something out, and try to put it right. Or leave the football club. “It needs to be sorted out quickly.” Rooney added: “He is absolutely destroying his legacy. The legacy he could have is massive. The legends that have played for Liverpool, he’s right up there. “It would be sad for him to throw it all away. He has gone about it all wrong. Roll your sleeves up.” Salah is set to depart for the Africa Cup of Nations where he will play for Egypt on Dec. 15 and could be absent for a month depending on their progress. Rooney said: “He is going to have the protection from next week, being away with Egypt. The timing, he has done it for a reason. It’s premediated to drop a bombshell then go away with Egypt. “I think it will be a good thing for Liverpool to get him out of the way.” Rooney told Liverpool boss Slot to leave Salah out of Tuesday’s trip to Inter in the Champions League. He said: “Slot has to show his authority and say ‘you are not travelling with the team, what you said isn’t acceptable, see yourself off to AFCON and let everything settle down’.  “Slot can take control of it. If I was Slot, there’s no way I’d have him anywhere near the team.”  Salah has scored 250 goals in 420 appearances since joining Liverpool from Roma in 2017. He signed a contract extension earlier this year after helping Liverpool win the Premier League last season with 29 goals.  But, now aged 33, he has only four goals in 13 league appearances this campaign.  Rooney said: “What’s hard, when you’re a player and you get the age where your performances drop, you look for reasons why. The last person you look at is yourself. I think this is what’s happening.  “His performances haven’t been great. I’m sure over the next couple of years, when he looks back, he will regret saying what he has said. “Only he can help him get out this situation, by playing better! Rather than looking internally he’s looking for anything to put the blame on.” Rooney recalled a similar situation from his own Manchester United career when he was unhappy at being left on the bench. But he dealt with it differently to Salah’s explosive public comments.  “I had it with Jose Mourinho. I started the season with Zlatan Ibrahimovic but I knew he normally plays one up front,” Rooney said.  “In the first three or four games, he played two of us. I knew as soon as I had a bad game, I wasn’t going to play and Zlatan would be the forward.  “I went in and had an honest conversation with Jose. I asked him to go on loan in January because I wanted to play. He said no because he needed me for the Europa League, but I could leave in the summer.  “I stood up, shook his hand, didn’t complain again. I sat on the bench and played a few games. “It was an honest conversation, two men shaking hands which I think is the right thing to do, rather than what Salah has done.” The post Mohamed Salah is destroying his legacy at Liverpool – Wayne Rooney appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.