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Mohamed Salah will be back in Liverpool’s squad for Saturday’s Premier League home game against Brighton following talks with Arne Slot.
Slot revealed on Friday morning that Salah’s involvement against Brighton rested on the outcome of a conversation he would have with the forward at the club’s training ground later in the day. Details of their conversation remain private, so it is unknown whether Salah apologised to Liverpool’s head coach for the highly-critical interview he gave at Leeds last Saturday, but the 33-year-old has been included in the squad for the match at Anfield.
Salah had said at Elland Road that the Brighton game would be an opportunity for him to say goodbye to Liverpool fans before departing for the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday. He had asked his parents to be present at Anfield, too. Slot would not have recalled Salah if he felt it was against the best interests of the team. The Egypt international was left out of Tuesday’s Champions League win at Inter on the basis a short period out of the team suited all parties.
Salah’s time away at Afcon gives Liverpool, the striker and his representative, Ramy Abbas Issa, a period to tackle the situation before he returns to the club in January.
Slot insisted when speaking about Salah on Friday morning that he had “no reasons not wanting him to stay” at the club and made the point that the pair has “spoken a lot in the last week”. Slot also made clear that while it was a club decision to omit Salah from the Milan trip, the final decision on team selection is down to him. “I think we decided as a club – and I was part of that decision – not to take him to the Inter Milan,” said the Dutchman.
“I am always in contact with them but when it comes to the decision-making of the line-up or the squad they always leave it open to me but that is not to say I don’t talk to them, mainly Richard [Hughes, Liverpool sporting director] not Michael (Edwards, chief executive of football at Fenway Sports Group]. But I talk to him about so many things: the decision to play a player or have him in the squad – as I have experienced until now and I think this will never change – is entirely up to me.”
