Arne Slot shares what he immediately noticed about Mohamed Salah during pre-season at Liverpool

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Liverpool players have been working hard in pre-season to prepare for the new campaign.

The Reds are still at a very limited capacity with many of their biggest stars still enjoying time off or playing for their national teams.

But with Arne Slot now having more than a week to establish his methods, the members of the Liverpool squad who are already back will be getting ever more familiar with the new boss.

Slot was given a boost this week with Mohamed Salah and Wataru Endo returning to the camp. Salah and Endo are the most senior members of the team now in training.

Having Salah around in particular is great news for Slot. Liverpool blocked Salah from going to the Olympics so he could enjoy a full pre-season at the AXA Training Centre and it sounds like that is already paying off.

Arne Slot shares Mohamed Salah first impression

Although rumours that Salah could leave for Saudi Arabia this summer are still just about hanging around, it seems likely that the Egyptian will be staying put.

It will be an enormous boost for Slot to have the top scorer of Liverpool’s last seven seasons to count on in his first year in charge.

But it isn’t just his goals that make Salah so important to the Reds. The 32-year-old is also one of the true leaders of the group.

Now something of a veteran, Mo is well-known for being the first into training every morning and is a real role model for the younger players at Liverpool.

READ MORE: What Mohamed Salah told Arne Slot about Kostas Tsimikas when meeting him for the first time

And that’s something Slot has referred to when asked for his thoughts on having both Salah and Endo back with the group.

“Mo came back strong, he was really fit!” the Dutchman told LFCTV. “That’s something that he always has been but it’s the same this year.

“What you want from them [Salah and Endo] is to set the example for the youngsters. It’s very important just like the other ones from the first-team that they stay fit,” Slot adds.

“They are full of energy and that’s the most important thing at the moment. Keep them fit, build it up from there and try to teach them as much as we can.”

Mohamed Salah set for Liverpool swansong

It now seems much more likely that Salah stays at Liverpool rather than leave before the end of August.

However, there is still yet to be any real talk that the Egypt captain will sign on beyond his current end date at Anfield, which will arrive in summer of 2025.

Liverpool have given Salah a deadline for contractual discussions, which is said to be by the end of July. If nothing has been agreed by then, Mo will walk on a free in a year’s time.

Whether that is quite set in stone remains to be seen. We still feel as though there could be a twist or two ahead in that story.

Nevertheless, for the moment, this will be Salah’s final season at Liverpool. There may be a new manager at the helm, but it sounds like it’s just the same old Mo.