Liverpool’s Egyptian striker #11 Mohamed Salah celebrates scoring the opening goal during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on February 23, 2025. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
Arne Slot says Mohamed Salah will have a “far better chance” of winning the Ballon d’Or if runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool win silverware this season.
The Egyptian superstar, 32, is the favourite to win the award, regarded as the top individual prize in football, after a sensational campaign so far.
Salah, who is yet to sign a new deal to keep him at Anfield beyond the end of this season, has scored 30 goals and provided 21 assists in all competitions during the current campaign.
But Liverpool manager Slot said Tuesday that despite those stellar numbers, the club need to win major trophies to help their forward win his first Ballon d’Or.
“It’s a good thing that Mo is in the discussion because it means he does well and it means we are doing well,” the Dutchman said on Tuesday.
Liverpool’s Egyptian striker #11 Mohamed Salah (R) shoots past Manchester City’s Croatian defender #24 Josko Gvardiol but has his shot saved during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on February 23, 2025. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
“But for him to stay in that discussion, he should bring in the same performances as he’s done for seven or eight months now.
“And I think, in general, someone that wins the Ballon d’Or needs to win something as well, so it’s a great challenge that is in front of us, but also in front of him.”
Liverpool, who host Newcastle on Wednesday, are 11 points clear of second-placed Arsenal at the top of the Premier League with 11 games to go but Slot said he does not fear complacency.
“We all know these players are so long in this competition, even much longer than me, so they know how difficult every single game is, and if you have to play 11, it’s still a long way to go,” he said.
Liverpool’s Dutch manager Arne Slot celebrates at the end of the English Premier League football match between Aston Villa and Liverpool at Villa Park in Birmingham, central England on February 19, 2025. Aston Villa and Liverpool equalised 2 – 2. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
Liverpool are also in the final of the League Cup, where they will face Newcastle again, and will meet Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Slot was asked at his pre-match press conference whether Salah’s current form could be compared with that of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at their peak but he shied away from direct comparisons.
“He (Salah) has had some outstanding seasons here at Liverpool, and we hope he can continue this for a longer period of time, but to do that he first has to extend his contract of course,” he said.
The Liverpool boss was also asked whether Salah’s red-hot form would make it easier or more difficult for the club to agree a new deal.
“You can look at it in both ways,” he said. “You can say the better he does, the more expensive he might become, and if he does really worse, we would have second thoughts if we wanted to extend his contract.
“So I think for everyone it’s the best that he brings in the performances he does now. Maybe only for the one that has to pay him it’s not the best, but for everyone else it’s the best.”
Pep Guardiola has explained the reason for Manchester City’s resurgence as they push for the Premier League title.
The win lifts City to 64 points from 31 games, cutting the deficit to leaders Arsenal—who have 70 points from 32 matches—to just six points, ramping up the title race in the closing stages of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Chelsea, led by manager Liam Rosenior, remain on 48 points in sixth place after 32 matches, continuing to produce inconsistent results this season.
Asked why Manchester City have been in such fine form in the final stages of the season, Pep Guardiola joked: “The sun! If it had been shining in November, we’d have been league champions by January… No, I’m joking, of course. In Manchester, the sun doesn’t shine very often.”
Looking ahead to next Sunday’s 32nd-round clash with Arsenal in the Premier League, he added: “That game will feel like a final for both teams, but there is a tactical detail we need to review, so we may make some adjustments.
“Everyone is talking about the Arsenal game, but matches against Brentford, Bournemouth and the other sides are just as important. The season is still long.”
Guardiola added “We’re in better shape, and in training everyone knows exactly what they have to do. We’ve faced three strong opponents, three Champions League teams. We didn’t put in a complete performance for the full 90 minutes, but we were organised enough, didn’t concede many chances, and our attacking threat was always there.”
Pep Guardiola
He added:One of our secrets as a club and a system is that, after one success after another, we have remained humble and have always asked ourselves: what must we do to stay at the top? Winning once or twice is normal, but to remain at the top for nine years—with the exception of last season—reflects the strength of the entire system.”
Following a 3-0 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Manchester City winger Jérémy Doku has declared that the players fully believe the Premier League title is in their own hands ahead of their showdown with Arsenal.
After trimming the gap to six points with a game in hand, Doku emphasized that City is confident, focused, and ready for the final.
“Obviously, three points here, in a tough game, we did very well. We needed those three points,” Doku told the club’s website.
“So we’re just going to keep on going, keep on going. We know that we still have everything in our hands. We’re going to recover well and we look forward to the game on Sunday.
“Coming here is not easy, playing here against Chelsea in their stadium is not easy. We just had to keep on going.
“We adapted our pressing a bit and more runs in behind, that opens more spaces. The way we started the second half also put a lot of pressure on them. In those moments when you can score it helps a lot.”
Real Madrid has stated that rumors on considering incorporating a sports director into its structure are categorically false.
According to Fabrizio Romano’s X post on Friday, the club was quoted as saying, “Real Madrid extraordinarily values the work that the club’s sports management has been carrying out, which has allowed us to live through one of the most successful periods in our entire history with the achievement of numerous titles, including 6 European Cups in ten years.”
It strongly reaffirm confidence in its current sporting management structure.
It also praise the existing leadership, crediting it for one of the most successful eras in the club’s history.
As evidence, they point to major achievements, including six UEFA Champions League titles in the last decade.
Overall, it’s a standard club statement aimed at shutting down speculation while reinforcing trust in their current internal setup.
Madrid have long operated with a distinct organisational model, where key transfer and sporting decisions are primarily overseen by senior executives and trusted football leadership rather than a traditional sporting director structure common in many European clubs.
The club’s denial comes amid continued speculation in Spanish football media about potential internal changes, particularly as elite clubs across Europe increasingly adopt centralized sporting director systems to streamline recruitment and long-term squad planning.
