Mohamed Salah has admitted that he is struggling to fully click with one new Liverpool signing currently, despite the Reds’ strong start to the season.
A memorable summer of transfers for Liverpool
The Premier League champions may have been left disappointed with failing to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace on deadline day, but this summer has still been one for the ages at Anfield.
Liverpool have broken their transfer record twice, as well as the British one for that matter, bringing in Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak from Bayer Leverkusen and Newcastle United respectively.
But that was far from the Reds’ only transfer business, with Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez strengthening the full-back areas, Hugo Ekitike arriving in a big-money move from Eintracht Frankfurt and Giovanni Leoni joining from Parma, being seen as a centre-back with huge potential.
Liverpool have started their title defence with three wins out of three in the Premier League, with Ekitike already scoring three times and many of the new signings already making a positive impression. Despite this, some interesting new comments from Salah have emerged.
Salah admits he isn’t clicking with Liverpool teammate
Speaking to the Men In Blazers podcast [via Caught Offside], Salah admitted that he is still taking time to gel with Ekitike at Liverpool, as they look to gain an on-pitch understanding like he and Darwin Nunez did.
“So far I didn’t figure the connections out yet. Like with Darwin or Lucho or the guys they used to play in front, or Diogo. I knew where to start with Diogo or Darwin. I know where to find them. I knew their game very well but with Hugo he’s still new.
“Sometimes I need the ball in the field. Sometimes we need [it] in the space. We try to figure that out, through the training sessions or like the videos. The manager shows us. So I will figure it out soon because also it’s going to help my game to grow as well.”
Salah also took to X on Wednesday to criticise a Liverpool fan account for showing disrespect to former players Nunez and Luis Diaz, with the Reds legend making it clear that it is unfair to compare them to new signings.
It is a fair stance from Salah, who clearly doesn’t want to see his friends and former colleagues painted in a bad light, and he always showed his admiration for Nunez despite his struggles, saying he loved playing with him.
“It was Firmino (favourite teammate), now I feel I generally like playing with Nunez. A lot of people don’t like him but I like playing with him. I see [the Q&A host] keeps shaking his head not liking [my answer]. I like playing with him in general. A player with different skills. Not a lot of people understand his game.”
Salah isn’t criticising Ekitike by any means, or Wirtz for that matter, instead realising that it takes time to adjust, which is perhaps why his form hasn’t been great in the opening three matches. The more he clicks with him, though, the more devastating the Egyptian will become again.
It’s simply a case of Arne Slot continuing to play them together, with Isak also coming in, and Liverpool’s all-round performances getting better as the campaign goes on. Still, the champions haven’t made too bad a start.
