Dejan Lovren Defends Mohamed Salah Against Disgusting Treatment

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

The former Reds centre-back, now at PAOK, did not bother with diplomacy. He called the treatment of Salah after a dip in form “disgusting” and claimed the Egyptian was hung out to dry after nearly a decade of elite consistency.

“Disgusting” treatment of a club legend

Speaking to WinWin, Lovren said he was stunned by how quickly the narrative around Salah shifted once his output dropped following a stellar 2024-25 campaign.

"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."

One quieter season, and the club’s record Premier League goalscorer suddenly became the lightning rod. For Lovren, that crossed a line from criticism into character assassination.

Salah’s status at Anfield is secure in the record books, but Lovren’s point was clear: the respect shown publicly did not match the contribution of a player who carried Liverpool for years.

Carragher in the firing line

Lovren saved some of his sharpest words for Jamie Carragher. The Liverpool legend had previously accused Salah of selfishness; Lovren dismissed that as theatre designed to boost viewing figures rather than serious analysis.

He suggested some pundits were motivated less by insight and more by ego.

"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.

The Croatian challenged Carragher’s courage to repeat such criticism directly to the players involved.

"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."

In Lovren’s eyes, the TV studio had become a stage, with Salah cast as an easy villain.

Slot blamed for Salah’s exit

The criticism did not stop with the media. Lovren went straight at Arne Slot, pointing to the former Liverpool manager as the decisive factor in Salah’s decision to leave Merseyside.

Behind the headlines and the touchline cameras, Lovren believes a broken relationship made Salah’s position untenable, especially when measured against the bond he shared with Jurgen Klopp.

"I don't think it's the management (that pushed Salah to leave)," Lovren 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."

With Klopp, he argued, there was trust, mutual respect and a clear understanding of what each gave the other.

"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 telling, 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 and a breakdown in communication, Lovren suggested, stripped away the foundations that had kept Salah at Anfield through previous storms.

“He never felt that support”

Lovren’s criticism widened to the club’s leadership and dressing room, accusing them of failing to protect their star forward from the growing noise.

He echoed Salah’s own complaints that he had been left exposed, while others escaped scrutiny during a difficult season.

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

Salah, he argued, became the default 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."

For Lovren, the story of Salah’s final months at Liverpool is not just about a superstar’s fading numbers. It is about how a club, a manager and a media ecosystem treated one of the defining players of its modern era — and how that treatment helped push him out the door.