What is next for Mo Salah after Liverpool

Few African footballers have left their mark on the Premier League in the way that Mohamed Salah has. After nine years turning Anfield into his own personal stage, the Egyptian is walking away from Liverpool this summer as a free agent, and speculation over his next destination has already started shifting football betting odds on Premier Bet across the continent.

Where he goes now will shape the final chapter of one of the Premier League's great modern careers.

Nine years that reshaped Liverpool

Salah joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017 for a fee of around £34 million, a signing many felt was a gamble after a difficult spell at Chelsea. It paid off almost immediately. He scored 32 goals in his first Premier League season alone, a record for a 38-game campaign, and never really slowed down from there.

By the time his exit was confirmed at the end of the 2025-26 season, Salah had won two Premier League titles, a Champions League, an FA Cup and two Carabao Cups with the club. He sits third on Liverpool's all-time scoring list and holds more goal involvements for a single club than anyone else in Premier League history. For Egypt and for African football more broadly, he became proof that a player from the continent could be the best in the world at his peak, not just a squad name.

Why the decision was made

Despite going into the last season as reigning league winners, Liverpool endured one of their worst defensive campaigns in years under manager Arne Slot, conceding more goals in a single Premier League season than at any point in the club's history and missing out on silverware entirely.

Salah made his frustration public more than once. After a draw at Leeds in December he said openly that he felt sidelined and that his relationship with Slot had broken down. Then, following a heavy defeat away at Aston Villa in May, he issued a pointed statement calling for Liverpool to rediscover the attacking identity that once made them feared, a comment widely read as a parting shot at his manager's approach rather than simple encouragement.

Where he could end up next

With no contract to negotiate around, Salah is free to talk to almost anyone, and reports since his exit was confirmed point in several directions.

Saudi Arabia is the destination most people expect. Al Ittihad have been repeatedly linked, having tried and failed to sign him before and now needing a marquee forward after losing their own star man Karim Benzema to a rival Saudi club, Al Hilal.

A move to Major League Soccer has also gathered pace, with more than one club in the league reportedly exploring a deal, following the trail blazed by other global stars who have moved there in recent years. A return to Italy, where he once played for Roma, has not been ruled out either, and interest from Turkey has also been mentioned in various reports.

Nothing is settled, and Salah's camp has been clear that no decision has been made public. What is certain is that wherever he lands, it will be watched closely across Africa, where his career has become a reference point for what is possible.

What it means for African football

Salah's Liverpool story ends without the fairytale send off some might have wanted, but it does not diminish what he built. Nine years, a cabinet full of trophies and a lasting place among the Premier League's greatest ever forwards is a legacy few players from any country can match.

His next move will shape how the final chapter of his career is remembered, but his impact on how African talent is viewed at the highest level of the game is already secure.