In teams of recent years he'd have been amazing, breaking down defences, fast little movements. He's 34 in 6 months.
The modern game has moved on and he seemingly doesn't want to do half the work. Let him rot on Merseyside with his wads of cash.
Giving him a new contract, and arguably Van Dyke also, was a huge error and refocused their transfer strategy on areas they didn't need players in.
Ironically, Liverpool crowing about "the bestest in the werld" for every player in their position has damaged them here, but it'll be Salah's fault for being greedy no doubt.
The future of the game will be technical competence paired with athleticism, Nico o' Reilly being a great example, those outside of that will be the minority and exceptional for it - think Cherki, Saka maybe.
If he's not going to be a physical presence, then is Salah going to affect games to the same degree as a Cherki or Foden on a regular basis? Chase and harangue? He doesn't now, he hasn't this season, and arguably he didn't much last season. Game moved on, Liverpool fans didn't and neither did the club, and some catching up to do now.