As you’ll no doubt have heard by now, Mohamed Salah (£14.0m) is to call time on his Liverpool career at the end of 2025/26.
In a statement, the club say that the winger “has reached an agreement with the Reds” to make this season his last.
Salah had been contracted to stay on Merseyside, on a £400k-a-week deal, till 2027.
We’ll have a few retrospectives of his career in the coming days but looking at what remains of his time at the club, there’ll no doubt be some dewy-eyed, late-season Fantasy interest in the Egyptian as he prepares for the big goodbye.
His powers have waned, of course. The drop-off this season, from his record-setting 2024/25 campaign, has been stark.
The rot set in at the back-end of last season, when his phenomenal year tapered off in the spring. His final nine appearances brought just two goals and one assist.
And he’s never really recovered this term. A stuttering campaign, not helped by a mid-season falling from favour and AFCON duty, sees him ranked 90th for FPL points. There’s been just one double-digit haul, while his points-per-start average of 4.6 is inferior to the likes of Amine Adli (£5.4m), Casemiro (£5.7m) and Anton Stach (£4.7m).
But, in this era of solvers, models and algorithm (not to mention the fact that he’s just been a bit pants), is there still room for the sentimental? Many Fantasy managers haven’t been able to resist romantic, farewell punts on the likes of David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne in recent years – with admittedly underwhelming results.
The irony is that the points projection models etc still love Salah, despite his iffy form. Even now, he features high up our Rate My Team (RMT) projections for the run-in, albeit not the runaway leader he once was.
He’d even shown tantalising glimpses of his old self in his most recent game, the 4-0 spanking of Galatasaray. Arne Slot’s formation shift, which brought Salah into a more central role, seemed to suit him.
In keeping with this season’s annus horribilis, however, injury then curtailed his evening. He subsequently missed Gameweek 31.
So first, we have to see him back in action. The injury doesn’t sound too serious. Then there’s the off-putting reality that Liverpool are competing on two other fronts, the FA Cup and the Champions League. Both might take priority over the league in the short term; you could see rotation in Gameweek 32, for instance:
The medium-term league schedule isn’t great either, with some tougher tests on the road especially to come. Liverpool haven’t won any away game against a (current) top-half team this season.
Double Gameweeks could change the picture and elevate his appeal, of course. Liverpool could get anywhere from 0-2 ‘doubles’. Progress to the FA Cup semi-finals all but ensures a Double Gameweek 33. Reaching the FA Cup final could mean a Double Gameweek 36, should Aston Villa also make the Europa League final.
Failing all that, there’s always a one-week punt in Gameweek 38. A nostalgic wager on quite possibly the greatest FPL asset of all time.
Salah’s case might even be helped by the other final-day fixtures, which don’t scream haul potential. The sides at the bottom face each other. Arsenal, who might have the league sewn up by then, are away at Crystal Palace. City and United face Aston Villa and Brighton, which aren’t straightforward games. Even Chelsea are away at Sunderland, who have made life tough for others on Wearside.
Brentford will be no pushovers for Liverpool, of course.
And there’s much that can happen to affect Salah – form, selection, Alexander Isak‘s (£10.3m) recovery, other competitions being priorities – between now and Gameweek 38.
But will you be able to resist the lure of the narrative, the final-day armband for old times’ sake? The recent cases of Silva and De Bruyne are cautionary tales – but we’ll be keeping some money in the bank, and some free transfers up the sleeve, just in case…
