If Mohamed Salah put a cat amongst the pigeons, Jamie Carragher has now thrown a lion into the mix.

The Liverpool legend has spent the last 24 hours or so coming out fighting on social media after giving his thoughts on Salah’s revelation that he’s still waiting for a new contract offer. Having branded the Egyptian as ‘selfish’ on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Carragher has since found himself as public enemy No.1 among many of the Anfield faithful.

“I must say, I am very disappointed in Mo Salah,” Carragher said. “Liverpool have got Real Madrid midweek and they’ve got Manchester City at the weekend, that’s the story for Liverpool right now.

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“The most important thing for Liverpool this season is not the future of Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk or Trent Alexander-Arnold. It is winning the Premier League. That is more important than any of those players. If he continues to put comments out, or his agent puts cryptic tweets out, that’s selfish. That’s thinking about themselves, and not the football club.”

Given Salah’s standing amid Liverpool supporters, you can imagine what the discourse has been like on social media since. Not that Carragher will mind – he’s defended his own corner on plenty of occasions, and you certainly wouldn’t expect him to back down here.

At the risk of joining the Liverpool naughty list just before Christmas, it nevertheless has to be said – Carragher is right. But then, is there anything actually wrong with Salah being ‘selfish’?

There can be no doubt that Salah has picked his moment to speak out. Any journalist who covers Liverpool will tell you how rare it is for him to stop in the mixed zone after a game – after all, even when he had a very public disagreement with Jurgen Klopp, he carried on walking, albeit not so quietly.

It’s a huge week for Liverpool with those two games in the Champions League and Premier League, and, as Carragher points out, a lot of the talk will now be about Salah’s future. As much as fans might disagree with the former defender, you can bet there will be questions asked about the Egyptian’s timing if Real Madrid and City end up beating the Reds.

But with just over a month now before not just Salah, but Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold as well, can all but confirm their departures from Anfield, the time for silence has perhaps passed. Liverpool is in danger of losing its three biggest players, and rather than looking at Salah or Carragher as potential villains, the bigger question that needs to be asked is why FSG has allowed the situation to get to this point.

Yes, there have been extenuating circumstances with four sporting directors in just two years, and Klopp’s departure certainly wouldn’t have helped matters, but there is just no excuse for players of the magnitude of Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold being just months away from walking away for absolutely nothing.

Salah’s timing is not ideal, but at least he’s showing some signs of wanting to reach some sort of deal. The ball is now firmly in Liverpool’s court, and they need to get a move on.