Why is living legend Mohamed Salah leaving Liverpool and not Arne Slot or Richard Hughes?

The news of Salah's imminent exit obviously provoked a multitude of emotions among Liverpool fans.

There was gratitude for all that he has given the club since his arrival from Roma back in 2017, sadness that he would be departing a year before the expiration of a contract extension signed just last April, and hope that he might finish on a high by firing the Reds to Champions League glory in Istanbul on May 30.

However, amid the immediate and inevitable outpouring of appreciation, there was also a strange sense of acceptance, a feeling that this premature parting of the ways is best for both parties.

One can certainly understand the argument. Salah is the highest-paid player in Liverpool's history and he's hardly justified his lofty wage with his performances this season, with the winger having scored just five times in 22 Premier League appearances. But whose fault is that, really?

In one of several shots aimed at Salah in recent months, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher claimed earlier this season that it looks like the 33-year-old's "legs have gone".

It can certainly happen to players of Salah's age and he certainly hasn't looked like his usual explosive self in several games this season. He's struggled to get by or get away from opponents quite like he once did.

But the idea that Salah can no longer cut it at the highest level is absurd. It's not even a year since he put the finishing touch on arguably the finest individual season in Premier League history by equalling the 42-game goals and assists record held by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole in just 38 appearances.

Are we really meant to believe, then, that Salah's finished? A poor penalty aside, he was absolutely outstanding in a 4-0 Champions League rout of Galatasaray just last week.

It would be absurd, then, to suggest that Salah's departure is a purely sporting decision. Is he hitting anything like the same heights of last season? Not at all. But he's still registered more goals and assists in all competitions than Bukayo Saka - in eight fewer outings and despite playing for a horribly inconsistent side.

Indeed, Salah is just one of several Reds underperforming this season? Ryan Gravenberch has regressed, Alexis Mac Allister is unrecognisable and the less said about Ibrahima Konate the better.

It's also interesting that while Virgil van Dijk has also done little to justify his own lucrative contract extension, the prospect of the Dutchman departing this summer would be met with abject horror among the fans.

There's an understandable perception that the captain is being let down by those around him and that he remains invaluable to the squad anyway because of his leadership qualities.

Why, then, is the same level of respect not afforded to Salah? He may not bring the team together in quite the same way as Van Dijk but he's unquestionably an inspirational figure, a commendable character that sets a standard of professionalism that Andy Robertson rather pointedly stated on Tuesday evening that "a lot of people could take note" of his work ethic.

It felt like a dig at some of the more recent arrivals at Anfield - and that would make sense, given we're still waiting for the majority of them to live up to their lofty transfer fees.

With all of that in mind, Salah was perfectly entitled to wonder why he was benched by Arne Slot during Liverpool's historically bad run of form between the tail end of September and the middle of November.

It was clearly wrong of him to go public with his grievances after the 3-3 draw with Leeds United but he was right when he claimed that he was being unfairly scapegoated.

"I don't accept this situation," he told reporters in the mixed zone at Elland Road. "I have done so much for this club. I got a lot of promises and so far I am on the bench for three games, so I can't say they have kept the promise.

"I said many times before that I had a good relationship with the manager and all of a sudden, we don't have any relationship. I don't know why.

"But it seems to me, how I see it, that someone doesn't want me in the club. It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That is how I am feeling. I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame.

"It is not acceptable for me. I don't know why this is happening to me. I don't get it. I think if this was somewhere else, every club would protect its player.

"How I see it now is like: 'You throw Mo under the bus because he is the problem in the team now.' But I don't think I am the problem."

And whatever one thinks of Salah speaking out, that last line is indisputable.

If the following four months have taught us nothing else, it's that Salah is certainly not the reason for Liverpool's disastrous defence of their Premier League title. The whole campaign has been a colossal collective failure.

With the exceptions of Dominik Szoboszlai and Rio Ngumoha, nearly the entire first-team squad has been nowhere near good enough but while they must take their share of the blame for the Reds' rotten results, those above them are really responsible for this mess.

The coach has proven himself completely incapable of resolving Liverpool's glaring issues in every area of the field, while it's been painfully obvious for months now that the squad constructed by sporting director Richard Hughes is criminally unbalanced after an historic summer spending spree.

Consequently, the current international break began with many fans hoping that rumours of Saudi Pro League interest in Hughes were true, and that the club might also take advantage of the pause in play to sack Slot in order to salvage the season.

We have instead learned that it is Salah who is on his way out of Anfield, arguably the finest footballer in Premier League history and the principal protagonist in last season's title triumph.

Worse still, he's being allowed to leave on a free transfer, meaning the argument that his exit makes financial sense doesn't even hold up.

Liverpool may save approximately £20 million ($27m) in wages next season but they could have earned triple that from selling Salah to an SPL side this summer - money that would have gone a long way towards helping the club to find something resembling a worthy successor.

There is, of course, no like-for-like replacement on the market, simply because there's not a player operating in Europe's 'Big 5' leagues who can match Salah for goals and assists over the past nine years.

Obviously, Liverpool have seen legends leave before, and the Reds have always recovered. No player has ever been bigger than the club, as Salah has said himself, and he was always going to move on eventually.

It really shouldn't have been this summer, though, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to retain faith in those now calling the shots at Anfield. Ditching Salah now clearly wasn't part of the original plan.

When Salah signed his new deal last April, both he and his employers expected him to see it out. However, things have changed dramatically in the interim, not least because of the forward's falling-out with Slot, and the club has opted to put their faith in the coach rather than the star player.

The wisdom of that decision will only become clear in time but it already feels like Liverpool aren't just losing a legend, they're also losing their way.