Van Dijk urges Liverpool to keep Salah as forward drives FA Cup progress

Virgil van Dijk wants Mohamed Salah to remain at Liverpool after the forward scored and assisted in a 3-0 win over Brighton that sent the club into the fifth round of the FA Cup. “Mo is still a leader and important for me, as a captain, to have around and to have him on the pitch and his presence benefits the team,” the Liverpool captain said, framing the tie as further evidence that the club’s most decorated modern striker remains central to its plans.

A decisive performance, a clear message

Salah, 33, was central to a controlled, professional cup display, providing end product and composure in the final third. The margin of victory was comfortable, but Van Dijk’s post-match stance was pointed: Liverpool “always” want Salah at Anfield, especially when knockout ties hinge on moments of invention. “He always gives the team more than goals,” Van Dijk, 34, added. “There’s obviously a lot of focus on his goals at the moment because he puts the standards so extremely high, so when he doesn’t score as much he gets criticised.”

Public praise of this kind, delivered on live broadcast after a cup tie, also functions as a signal to the boardroom and to external suitors that the dressing room expects the club to do everything reasonable to retain Salah’s services.

From winter tension to on-pitch influence

The public temperature around Salah has swung markedly since December, when he said he had been “thrown under the bus” and that his relationship with head coach Arne Slot had broken down during a difficult run. For a week, the dispute raised questions about dressing-room unity and the clarity of Liverpool’s sporting hierarchy, with supporters and pundits scrutinising how quickly the club could restore alignment between senior players and the head coach.

Since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations in January, he has started every Liverpool match, producing two goals and four assists. The effect is twofold: Liverpool retain an elite chance-creator in tight games, and younger attackers benefit from his gravity and decision‑making in transition. Internally, his seamless reintegration has reduced the noise around earlier tensions and re-established a working model in which Slot sets the framework and Salah provides the on-pitch execution and leadership.

Numbers that still carry weight

• Result: Liverpool 3-0 Brighton — Liverpool advance to the FA Cup fifth round (last 16), staying on course in a competition that remains a strategic target for silverware.
• Salah vs Brighton: 1 goal, 1 assist, reaffirming his ability to decide knockout ties even when not at his most explosive.
• Since January return: started every Liverpool game; 2 goals, 4 assists, underscoring consistent involvement rather than sporadic cameos.
• Club benchmark: his assist against Sunderland last week moved him to the joint-most Premier League assists for Liverpool (92), level with Steven Gerrard — a statistical marker that places him alongside the club’s defining modern captain in terms of long-term creative output.

The summer decision and its competitive stakes

Salah’s contract runs to 2027, yet there remains the possibility of a summer decision after nine years at the club. Al-Ittihad attempted to sign him in 2023 and interest from the Saudi Pro League would persist if he became available, particularly given the league’s strategy of recruiting globally recognisable forwards in their early 30s.

For Liverpool’s ownership and football operations structure, any choice over Salah now sits at the intersection of sporting ambition, wage policy and long-term squad planning. That backdrop elevates the significance of his current run: keeping him sustains Liverpool’s supply line on the right, preserves a leadership core alongside Van Dijk, and maintains continuity for Slot’s evolving attack. Allowing him to depart would force a major rebuild of chance creation and set-piece threat, with immediate implications for how Liverpool approach both domestic cups and league fixtures when margins tighten in late winter and spring. It would also test the club’s recruitment department to identify not just a goalscorer but a focal point capable of absorbing pressure on and off the pitch.

Why Van Dijk’s stance matters now

As captain, Van Dijk’s public backing signals internal alignment at a crucial point in the season. The FA Cup’s single-elimination format rewards reliability in decisive areas, and Salah remains one of Liverpool’s most bankable problem-solvers. In a club that positions itself as sustainably run and data-led, the captain’s endorsement adds a dressing-room perspective to the metrics and projections that will inform any board-level decision on Salah’s future.

With the fifth round bringing higher-calibre opposition and fewer second chances, his blend of goals, assists and on-field control is a competitive edge Liverpool are keen to preserve. Van Dijk’s message, delivered in the aftermath of a comfortable win, was therefore less a nostalgic appeal than a pointed reminder: in a season where every competition is framed as an opportunity, keeping their most reliable big-game forward is itself a strategic decision.