Florian Wirtz has defended linking Mohamed Salah’s pointed social media post.
The outgoing Liverpool forward sparked controversy in the wake of last week’s defeat to Aston Villa in which he appeared to take aim at a drop in standards.
Salah called for Arne Slot’s side to ‘go back to being the heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear and back to being a team that wins trophies’.
Several teammates liked the post when it was shared on Instagram with the Germany international joining eight others from the dressing room in reacting to it.
But while the social media interactions have been perceived as the Reds’ players turning against a beleaguered Slot, Wirtz insists that it was ‘nothing like that’.
“I like Mo’s mentality in general – how he sees things, how he works. He’s a guy you can listen to, because he has seen a lot,” he told the Athletic.
“He wasn’t attacking anyone. With the ‘likes’ players gave, I think it was made too big. For me, it was just a thing that he wanted to say because he’s leaving.
“He wanted to make everyone in the club alert that we have to work more and do better.
“We are all anything but happy with this season. I think we can still make a little bit out of it by qualifying for the Champions League on Sunday.
“We have to do that. Then in the summer, we need to clear our heads and attack next season, because we have a very good squad and we can do much better.”
Slot’s future remains subject to intense debate heading into Sunday’s Premier League finale with Brentford, where Salah and Andy Robertson will bid farewell.
Wirtz, however, is adamant that the former champions are still behind the Dutchman.
He added: “The outside world is always trying to create something between the team and the manager. But it’s totally different in this building.
“We are working well every day with this manager and his staff. There is no thought about not being behind the manager
“This is just something (talked about) on the outside.”