Manager Virgil van Dijk has urged Mohamed Salah to stay at Liverpool. However, the Reds captain admitted he was unsure what the future holds for the Egyptian star after the African Cup of Nations.
Salah featured on the substitute bench for three successive Champions League games up until Tuesday night’s 1-0 win against Inter Milan, but he was left on Merseyside after venting his frustrations after the 3-3 draw with Leeds at Elland Road and did not feature in that period.
In an unusual post-match interview, the 33-year-old said he had been “thrown under the bus” by the club and claimed his relationship with head coach Arne Slott had soured.
However, following a head-to-head meeting with Slott at the club’s AXA training center on Friday, Salah returned to the squad that beat Brighton 2-0 at Anfield. He came on as a substitute for the injured Joe Gomez early on and played in most of the match.
And Slott admitted he wants Salah to remain at Anfield upon his return from AFCON.
After the match, manager Van Dijk admitted that he had hoped his colleague would remain at the club beyond the January transfer window. Despite this, the Liverpool captain remains in the dark about how things will pan out.
“Of course I told him I wanted him to stay,” Van Dijk said. “I’m not going to talk about the rest. He’s one of the leaders so I’d love for him to be around, but the fact is he’s going to AFCON.”
“I wish him all the best. As always, I’ll be in touch over the next few days (or) weeks. Then we’ll see. Why did that happen? That’s the other person you have to ask.”
“Did it affect the players this week? No, did you see the performance? The reality of the situation is that it’s making so much noise. As captain, I have to deal with how the players react to it. And I think the players responded perfectly fine.”
“Mo’s reaction was completely fine in the end. He was good today, he was good on Sunday and Monday when we trained, we didn’t travel (to Milan), we trained together yesterday and he was also fine.”
“It’s all about how the team reacts. In my eyes, what I see and how I talk to the players. I think everyone handled it perfectly well.”
Van Dijk continued: “First of all, it’s not about me, it’s about the other members of the team. I talked to Mo, I talked to almost every player, I listened, I observed and that’s the most important thing.”
“It would be a different story if we felt there were issues within the team that could affect our performance, but I think we showed this week that we are completely united and will move forward as one.
“Mo will be playing in the Africa Cup of Nations and we all expect him to be an absolute success there and we hope he can come back and be an important piece for us throughout the rest of the season.
“But on the other hand, we all know football and you never know what’s going to happen.
“I want him to stay, because he is one of my leaders. He is very important and is still important for the football club, as you can see with another assist today. But there are other parties involved in this situation.”
Liverpool will have a week to prepare for Saturday’s Premier League showdown with Tottenham (kick-off 5.30pm).
