'We had it with Ronaldo': Wayne Rooney offers solution on how to solve Liverpool's Mohamed Salah problem

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Mohamed Salah’s form both in defence and attack has been causing Liverpool some problems during the early part of the season.The Egyptian was comfortably the best player in the Premier League last term, scooping a clean sweep of the end of year awards.However, having signed a new, bumper deal in the spring, Salah has failed to replicate that output during 2025/26.Not only have the goals and assists dried up for the 33-year-old, he has also begun to cause Liverpool some real issues defensively.Salah is given license to stay forward by Arne Slot while the Reds are being attacked. As teams grow wiser to Salah’s role, Man United legend Wayne Rooney has offered some advice for how Slot can fix it.Photo by Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty ImagesArne Slot to copy Cristiano Ronaldo move with Mohamed SalahAlthough Salah’s current role is adding to Liverpool’s concerns at the moment, most fans would still rather have the Egypt captain in the team.As he has shown over almost a decade with the Reds, Salah is always good for a goal or a moment of inspiration when Liverpool most need one.READ MORE: Alongside Alexander Isak, Arne Slot says another Liverpool player isn’t fit enough to start every weekConsequently, Slot rarely takes him off.

So, without having to replace him in the team, Rooney has said that the Liverpool head coach can try something Alex Ferguson did with Cristiano Ronaldo at Man United.“Certainly over the last six months, the Liverpool fans I know in Liverpool were on his back,” the former striker told The Wayne Rooney Podcast.“Because he was scoring goals and winning you get away with it, but I think the best managers see that and they adjust.”“I’m not saying you leave him out the team,” Rooney explained. So, you’ve still got that balance in the team, you’ve still got the work getting done but he moved him inside so he’s still on the pitch, because he’s always got a chance of scoring goals and winning games.

Move him inside a little bit, even if you put [Florian] Wirtz out there, then you still have that work ethic behind you but still have that brilliance of Salah to go and score goals. If I was a Liverpool fan that would be a little bit of a concern for me.”What could Liverpool look like if Slot takes this advice?While Rooney’s suggestion makes potential sense for Liverpool on paper, it is hard to see exactly how this works in practice.Essentially, it would mean Wirtz and Salah swapping positions.