Steven Gerrard reveals text message he sent to Mo Salah before Egyptian’s Liverpool exit

Salah announced his departure earlier this month

After nine trophy-laden years on Merseyside, the Egyptian forward took to Instagram to announce that he will leave Anfield this summer, a full year before his contract had been set to expire.

While Salah's timing may have caught some Reds' supporters unawares, the decsion itself will have come as a surprise to no one.

The 33-year-old has struggled for form throughout the season, and has dipped in-and-out of Arne Slot's starting XI, leading to a build up of tension between the two men.

The situation reached a boiling point in December.

After Salah was left out of the side for a 3-3 draw with Leeds United, the Liverpool star gave an interview in which he accused Slot of "throwing [him] under the bus."

In was in the aftermath of this situation that Steven Gerrard says he began to engage in communication with Salah.

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Speaking on the latest edition of the Overlap's Stick to Football podcast, Gerrard said: "I spoke to him around that interview at the time. I said 'Don't do what you've done and go under a cloud' - yeah I spoke to him direct.

"He texts me every now and again or I text him now and again, more if I am going somewhere with Leo [Gerrard's son] just so Leo can see him.

"But it gave me the opportunity to say to him, 'You've been here for eight or nine years. You've been a king here, you've got this legacy. Go on your terms, the right way.'"

Gerrard also divulged some details on how Salah took his comments.

He responded: "He was still a little emotional at the time from the incidents. He was a sub, he was in and out of the team at the time, he was upset.

"I thought it would have been a shame if he left in January and he just left.

 "I understand both sides of it now I have been a manager myself, I understand both sides. I had a similar thing with Brendan [Rodgers].

"But when I look back at it now and I am out of the game and on the other side of it and less emotional, you understand it from where Brendan is.

"I maybe wasn't the same player at 34.

"There's no rule where you have to play every minute because you're the captain, but at the time it's not easy.

"When you're in the squad and you're about to play United and you look at the squad and you think 'I am as good if not better than those players.'

"It's difficult in the player's situation."