Dejan Lovren Defends Mohamed Salah Against Pundits and Management

Dejan Lovren has launched a fierce defence of Mohamed Salah, accusing pundits, club leadership and former manager Arne Slot of creating an environment that drove the Liverpool icon out of Anfield.

The Croatian, one of Salah’s closest friends in the game, painted a picture of a club and a media landscape that turned on its greatest modern goalscorer the moment his numbers dipped after a sparkling 2024-25 campaign.

“It’s disgusting”

Speaking to WinWin, Lovren did not bother with diplomacy.

"The way they treated him this season is not harsh," he said. "It's disgusting. Why didn't they talk about him like this for the past eight or nine years? Tell me... OK, one season, and then he's the target again. There are so many other issues."

Salah’s output fell from his usual elite standards, and the narrative around him quickly shifted from legend to lightning rod. For Lovren, that switch said more about those judging the Egyptian than about the player himself.

The criticism, he argued, stopped being about football a long time ago.

Carragher in the crosshairs

Lovren reserved some of his strongest words for Jamie Carragher. The former Liverpool defender had previously branded Salah “selfish” and questioned aspects of his game; Lovren suggested those takes owed more to television theatre than genuine insight.

"He's being really heavily criticised. Some pundits do it just to attract attention, maybe because they haven't succeeded in other areas of their lives, so now they need to perform well... especially Carragher, he says whatever he wants," Lovren said.

Then came the challenge.

"I always said he should tell him this to his face, say all these things to Mo to his face. He'll never say that. Because I know he never will, because he never said it to me. He's talked badly about me too, but he never said that to me anyway. You know, he's just performing on TV and he gets paid for it, so he needs to perform this way."

That accusation cuts deep in a city that prides itself on straight talking. Lovren’s message was clear: if you are going to go after Salah, do it in the dressing room, not just under studio lights.

Slot blamed for Salah’s exit

Lovren did not stop at pundits. He went straight to the top of the football operation and pointed at one man in particular.

"I don't think it's the management (that pushed Salah to leave)," the PAOK defender said. "I think it's just one person, and I think it's just the manager. They didn't have a good relationship. Let's put it simply."

Under Jurgen Klopp, Lovren recalled, Salah operated in a climate of mutual trust and respect.

"With Klopp, he had a really good relationship. It wasn't always perfect, but they knew each other very well, let's say that too, and they trusted each other, they liked each other, and Mo gave everything on the pitch for Klopp, and Klopp gave him that trust."

Slot, in Lovren’s eyes, represented the opposite.

"But (with Slot) it was the opposite. It's that simple, and everyone knows it because when you look at the previous eight or nine seasons, he did really well."

A public spat, a breakdown in communication, a sense that the bond between star and manager had snapped – Lovren stitched those elements together as the real backdrop to Salah’s decision to walk away from Merseyside.

“He never felt that support”

For Lovren, the fault lines ran deeper than one touchline relationship. He believes the club failed to protect its biggest name when the storm gathered.

"There are other players who should also take responsibility and say, 'yes, this is my fault', but you know, some players never came forward," he said.

"There was mismanagement; internally, they didn't handle it well. They didn't handle it well. Even if you have some problems, you have to talk about it in the dressing room, and like I said, Mo never felt that support."

While others slipped under the radar during a difficult season, Salah, he argued, became the permanent scapegoat.

"He was always the front-page headline, 'Ah, it's Mohamed Salah, don't be surprised.' I mean... it's a deep-seated issue."

Lovren’s words land like a verdict: a club legend, record Premier League goalscorer and global symbol of Liverpool’s resurgence left feeling isolated, unprotected and, in the end, expendable.