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Mohamed Salah will leave Liverpool at the end of the 2025-26 season, and Stephen Warnock believes that exit will complete a career that places Salah alongside Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard in club history. The 33-year-old forward, who joined from Roma in 2017, is widely viewed as one of the main figures behind Liverpool’s modern era of success.

The club confirmed on Tuesday that Salah’s nine-year spell at Anfield will finish when his current contract expires, with reports indicating Liverpool will allow a free transfer despite one year remaining on the deal. Warnock feels the timing supports Salah’s status as a Liverpool legend and protects how supporters remember the forward’s peak years.

Salah has become central to Liverpool’s trophy haul under Jurgen Klopp and, more recently, Arne Slot. Since 2017, Salah has helped secure eight major trophies, including two Premier League titles, with one coming last season, plus the 2018-19 Champions League. Across all competitions, Salah has played 435 matches, scoring 255 goals and supplying 119 assists for team-mates.

Salah sits third on Liverpool’s all-time scoring chart, behind Ian Rush on 346 goals and Roger Hunt on 285. In the Premier League alone, Salah has 189 goals and 92 assists from 310 appearances for Liverpool, the highest combined total of goals and assists any player has recorded for a single club in the competition’s history.

Salah’s impact has also been recognised with two Premier League Player of the Year awards, the most recent in 2024-25 after an outstanding campaign that carried Liverpool to a 20th top-flight title. Overall, Salah has 284 Premier League goal contributions, a figure exceeded only by Wayne Rooney with 311 and Alan Shearer with 324.

The Egyptian’s influence stretches into Europe, where Salah has scored 47 Champions League goals, more than any other Liverpool player. This season, however, numbers have dipped slightly, with 10 goals and nine assists across 34 matches in all competitions, prompting discussion about whether the club and player have chosen a natural moment for separation.

Warnock, who represented Liverpool between 2002 and 2007, believes Salah’s statistics and decisive moments justify comparisons with the club’s greatest figures. “There was a poll recently on Liverpool’s website talking about the greatest players that have ever played for Liverpool and I actually watched one with Phil Thompson, and Phil Thompson has obviously played with Kenny Dalglish,” Warnock told Stats Perform. “He’s been part of the coaching staff that was with Steven Gerrard, and then he’s watched from afar with Mohamed Salah, and he rates them as the three best players that have ever played for Liverpool.”

“I never saw Kenny Dalglish play. I played with Gerrard, I know his abilities, and I’ve never played with Mohamed Salah, but I was able to watch him. But from seeingvideos of Kenny, and the way that he played, and seeing Gerrard and Salah, I think it’d be very tough to argue against those players being the top three players. And to even put yourself in that category of being in the top five, top 10 players, to ever wear a Liverpool shirt is incredible. Yeah, I’d probably have to say, from what I’ve seen, you’d put him in third place.”

Warnock also discussed why Salah may feel this is the correct moment to confirm a future away from Liverpool. “[Mo Salah] doesn’t want someone else releasing the news, but also he probably feels that now is the time to move on while he’s remembered for his legacy,” Warnock added. “He doesn’t want to start declining at Liverpool and people remembering him in a way that we haven’t seen over the nine years that he’s been at the football club.”

“Again, we don’t know the ins and outs, whether there’s been an issue with the manager, whether he’s unhappy behind the scenes. We have no idea, but having listened to and watched his video, I think you can see how much he loves the football club, how much he’s enjoyed his time there. So maybe it’s a part of his career that he just thinks now’s the time, the right time to end it and to move on and to look for a new challenge.”

Salah’s confirmed exit after the 2025-26 campaign closes a period in which Liverpool returned to regular title contention domestically and in Europe. With records across the Premier League and Champions League, as well as admiration from former players such as Warnock, Salah’s standing among Liverpool’s finest performers appears secure as the forward prepares for the next stage of a distinguished career.

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