Mo Salah was given green light to make 'selfish' transfer to Premier League rival

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Mohamed Salah was once told to ditch Liverpool for a Chelsea return. Salah is currently without a club after his departure from the Reds following an acrimonious final season at Anfield, which saw him fall out with Arne Slot .

The 33-year-old has been linked with moves to Saudi Arabia , Turkey and possibly even a return to Liverpool now that Slot has been replaced by Andoni Iraola. For now, he is focused on the World Cup with Egypt , who begin their campaign against Belgium on Monday.

It's not the first time Salah's future has been up in the air. At Liverpool, there were moments of friction even before the arrival of Slot.

In 2021, he was in the midst of a contract standoff with the Reds that was ultimately resolved with a new contract. Before that fresh deal was inked, Chelsea legend Didier Drogba was asked about the situation, with the Ivorian urging Salah to return to the Blues, where he had an underwhelming spell before playing for Roma and Liverpool.

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Drogba told Al-Axis TV : "If I am selfish, I will tell Salah to leave Liverpool and return to Chelsea. My opinion is that Salah will remain the best, no matter if he continues at Liverpool or if he moves.

"Any other team would perform better [with him] because he understands what he is doing, is good at scoring and creating goals, and only needs the confidence of the coach.

"I do not know what his decision would be. This is his decision alone and his future, but wherever he goes, I will be one of his fans."

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Five years on, there are suggestions Salah may be open to returning to Anfield following the departure of Slot. Reds bosses decided to remove the Dutchman because they feel the team needs to evolve towards a more aggressive, front-foot, urgent style of football.

That reflects comments Salah made in a social media post last month, when he called for a return to the "heavy metal football" played under predecessor Jurgen Klopp .

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Earlier in the season, Salah said he had been "thrown under the bus" by Slot after being dropped, comments which led to him being axed for a Champions League game before being reintegrated into the squad.

Iraola emerged as Liverpool's top target after guiding Bournemouth to 12th, ninth and sixth-placed finishes in the Premier League , playing an attractive brand of attacking, high-energy football that many fans have been demanding.