Salah and Robertson Leave Liverpool: End of an Era at Anfield

Introduction

Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson will leave Liverpool this summer as two of the greatest players ever to wear the red shirt. Nine years, every major trophy, and countless moments that will live forever in Anfield folklore. Their final home game comes against Brentford on Sunday, May 24, and it will be a day nobody inside the stadium will forget.

Both arrived in the summer of 2017. Both transformed the club. Both are walking away at the same time, bringing down the curtain on the most successful era in Liverpool's modern history. This is the story of how they got here, what they achieved, and what happens next.

The Double Signing of 2017

In the summer of 2017, Liverpool pulled off two transfers that would define the next decade. Mohamed Salah arrived from Roma for £34.3 million. Andy Robertson joined from relegated Hull City for a bargain £8 million. Neither signing was straightforward.

The Salah deal nearly never happened. Jurgen Klopp originally wanted Julian Brandt, the talented Bayer Leverkusen winger who fit the German manager's preferred profile. But Liverpool's data analytics department, led by Dr Ian Graham and sporting director Michael Edwards, built an overwhelming statistical case for Salah instead. The numbers showed that Salah's output in Rome, his pace, his positioning, and his finishing all pointed to a player who would thrive in Klopp's system. Klopp relented. It remains the single most consequential data-driven decision in Premier League transfer history.

Salah scored on his debut against Watford and proceeded to demolish the Premier League scoring record in his first season, netting 32 goals in 38 league appearances. The Egyptian King was crowned.

Robertson's arrival was even less heralded. Hull had just been relegated. He was a Scottish left-back with Premier League experience but no reputation. Behind the scenes, Robertson's story was remarkable. Just a few years earlier, he had been packing shelves at Marks & Spencer while playing amateur football for Queens Park in Scotland. The gap between stacking shelves and standing in front of the Kop is almost impossible to fathom.

Klopp's first assessment of Robertson was characteristically blunt. The manager told him: "I like everything about what you're doing offensively and I don't think I like anything of the things you do defensively." It was both a critique and a challenge. Robertson responded by becoming one of the most reliable defenders in world football.

The Trophy Haul

Together, Salah and Robertson won every trophy it is possible to win at Liverpool. The complete set:

• Champions League (2019): The night in Madrid against Tottenham. Salah scored from the penalty spot in the first two minutes. The sixth European Cup returned to Anfield.
• UEFA Super Cup (2019): Beat Chelsea on penalties in Istanbul.
• FIFA Club World Cup (2019): Liverpool became world champions for the first time, defeating Flamengo in extra time in Doha.
• Premier League (2020): The title Liverpool waited 30 years for. Salah and Robertson were central figures throughout that dominant campaign. The pandemic meant the Kop could not celebrate properly, but nothing could diminish the achievement.
• Carabao Cup (2024): A dramatic extra-time victory over Chelsea at Wembley.
• FA Cup (2022): Another Wembley win, another Chelsea defeat on penalties.

Six major trophies. Every single one available to them. That is not just a good era. That is a complete era. No Liverpool squad in history had previously won all six. For context on how rare sustained success is at the highest level, see our breakdown of the Premier League final day scenarios and how the trophy landscape is shifting.

Salah's Liverpool Legacy by the Numbers

Mohamed Salah leaves Liverpool as the club's third-highest all-time goalscorer and arguably its greatest ever attacking player. The numbers tell only part of the story, but they are staggering:

• 200+ goals across all competitions in nine seasons
• 32 Premier League goals in 2017-18, a single-season record at the time
• Three Golden Boots in the Premier League
• Champions League final goalscorer in 2019
• Consistent 20+ goal seasons across virtually every campaign

Beyond the raw statistics, Salah's legacy is defined by the moments. The goal against Everton at Anfield where he twisted through three defenders. The audacious chip against Manchester City. The penalty in Madrid. The solo run against Porto that left half the team on the floor. Salah did not just score goals. He scored those goals. The ones you remember where you were when they happened.

His consistency is perhaps the most underappreciated aspect. Year after year, Salah produced elite output. There was no dramatic decline, no season where he looked like a player past his peak. At 34, he is still one of the most dangerous forwards in world football, and he leaves on his own terms.

Robertson's Journey: From M&S Shelves to Anfield Captain

If Salah's story is about talent recognized by data, Robertson's is about sheer human willpower. The trajectory from Queens Park, an amateur club in Scotland, to captaining Liverpool in a Champions League final is one of the most extraordinary career arcs in modern football history.

Robertson was released by Celtic as a teenager. He joined Queens Park, where players trained part-time. To make ends meet, he worked at Marks & Spencer, packing shelves and operating the tills. His wages from football were minimal. At that point, a professional career at the highest level seemed impossibly remote.

Dundee United gave him his first professional contract. Then came Hull City, promotion to the Premier League, relegation, and finally the £8 million move to Liverpool that changed everything. Even at Hull, Robertson was not considered a top-tier talent. He was a solid Premier League left-back, nothing more.

Under Klopp, Robertson transformed. He became the relentless, overlapping left-back who would run the entire flank for 90 minutes and never stop. His partnership with Sadio Mane down Liverpool's left was one of the most devastating combinations in European football. Defensively, he grew into one of the most reliable one-on-one defenders in the league, answering every question Klopp had raised on day one.

Robertson eventually became Liverpool captain, leading the team with the same underdog intensity that defined his career. He leaves as the most decorated Scottish player in Liverpool history and a guaranteed Anfield legend.

The Final Day at Anfield

Sunday, May 24, 2026. Liverpool host Brentford at Anfield in the final Premier League game of the season. The match itself is almost incidental. What matters is the farewell.

Anfield will be packed. The atmosphere will be charged with emotion. Two players who defined a generation of Liverpool football will walk off the pitch for the last time as Liverpool players. Expect pre-match guard of honour tributes, post-match speeches, and scenes that will reduce grown adults in the stands to tears.

For Salah, it is a chance to say goodbye to the fans who chanted his name for nearly a decade. For Robertson, it is the culmination of a journey from M&S shelves to Anfield immortality. Both deserve every second of the send-off they will receive.

The broader context of the final day of the 2025-26 Premier League season means there is plenty at stake elsewhere, but at Anfield, the result barely matters. This day belongs to Salah and Robertson.

What Comes Next for Liverpool

Losing Salah and Robertson simultaneously is a seismic blow. These are not squad players. They are foundational pillars of everything Liverpool have achieved over the past decade. Replacing them on the pitch is hard enough. Replacing their leadership, experience, and winning mentality might be impossible.

But Liverpool are not standing still. The club is already active in the transfer market, closing in on two significant signings:

• Yan Diomande: The RB Leipzig winger is nearing a move to Anfield. Diomande has been one of the most exciting wide players in the Bundesliga and would help fill the creative void left by Salah's departure.
• Samuel Martinez: The Colombian talent is also on Liverpool's radar as part of a wider rebuild. Martinez represents the kind of high-upside signing that Michael Edwards and the recruitment team have built their reputation on.

The bigger question is the manager. Arne Slot's position is increasingly uncertain after a poor end to the season. The 4-1 defeat at Aston Villa was particularly damaging, and Liverpool's form in the closing weeks has raised serious concerns about whether Slot is the right man to lead the post-Salah, post-Robertson rebuild.

Liverpool have reportedly reached out to Jurgen Klopp about a possible return. The German remains an iconic figure at Anfield, and the idea of him coming back to oversee the transition is tempting. Whether Klopp would entertain a return after his emotional departure is another matter entirely.

If Slot is sacked, Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola is understood to be the top target. The Spanish coach has earned widespread praise for his work on the south coast and plays the kind of high-intensity, pressing football that fits Liverpool's identity. For more on how managerial departures reshape clubs, see our analysis of Guardiola's departure from Manchester City and the wider trend of era-defining managers moving on.

Sources

• Sky Sports. "Salah and Robertson to leave Liverpool after nine years." May 23, 2026.
• BBC Sport. "Liverpool farewell for Salah and Robertson ahead of Brentford finale." May 23, 2026.
• The Athletic. "Klopp contacted by Liverpool over potential return." May 2026.

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