Dejan Lovren has spoken out against what he termed the ‘disgusting’ treatment of Mo Salah from some pundits during the winger’s final season with Liverpool.
The Egyptian caused a stir with two public outbursts over the past six months, firstly saying that he had ‘no relationship’ with then-Reds head coach Arne Slot and later calling for the Merseysiders to go back to the ‘heavy metal’ style of football which was synonymous with his predecessor Jurgen Klopp.
Jamie Carragher was among the more prominent critics of the 33-year-old after both of those proclamations, and the ex-LFC and Croatia defender has come out fighting in defence of his former teammate, with whom he’s maintained a close friendship.
When it was put to Lovren in an interview with Egyptian outlet WinWin whether media criticism of Salah after those outbursts was ‘harsh’, he replied: “It’s not harsh. It’s disgusting. Why didn’t they talk about him like this for the past eight or nine years?
“Okay, one season, and then he’s the target again… 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.”
Lovren added: “Especially Carragher, he says whatever he wants. 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, but whatever. It just hurts me because I know deep down who Mo is. He’s a really good guy inside, with a good mind and a good heart. I honestly don’t understand. He deserves so much better, you guys.”
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Given the close friendship that Lovren and Salah developed when they were teammates at Liverpool, it’s natural that the Croatian will publicly defend the Egypt winger in the face of widespread public criticism.
The 33-year-old’s frustrations during a hugely difficult season for the Reds were understandable, although his decision to air those grievances in public caused a storm on both occasions and cast a bit of a shadow over his final campaign at Anfield.
It didn’t help that the forward produced by far his lowest goal output in a red shirt 2025/26, though neither that nor his two outbursts can detract from his status as one of the club’s greatest players of all time.
With the passage of time, Salah’s comments over the past six month will be forgotten, whereas future generations will learn of his astonishingly consistent brilliance during his nine years on Merseyside and ask fans of this era all about him.
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