Salah is a two-time African Cup of Nations runner-up, with Egypt losing to Cameroon in the 2017 final and losing to Senegal on penalties in a high-profile 2021 clash.
Egypt is one of the favorites to win the 2025 tournament, which opens in Morocco on Sunday, December 21st. And Egypt will be looking to Salah to bring glory.
The Pharaohs are holding a training camp and warm-up friendly in the second week of December and have the right to call up Salah.
However, according to the Daily Mail, the player wants to remain at Liverpool for the rest of the week and will hold final negotiations with his home country manager Hossam Hassan next week to avoid a club-versus-country dispute.
Even if Salah joins Egypt early and continues to lift trophies with his national team, he will not return to Anfield until a high-profile game on Sunday, January 18.
This means the player could miss a total of 10 games across the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.
Slott was reluctant to leave Salah out of the league this season, but the 33-year-old was named as a substitute in two successive Champions League games.
But without Salah in the building, Slot will have to rely on other talented attackers. And the former Feyenoord manager could name Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike together in the front three, which could be a deadly combination.
Ekitike has been one of the Reds’ most promising attacking players this season, while Isak has shown he can score plenty of goals in the Premier League despite a less-than-impressive start on Merseyside.
Depending on the outcome of the next few weeks, this switch could put Liverpool back in contention for Premier League honors and could be the start of the team’s next era, with the key duo and fellow summer signing Florian Wirths at the center.
Ekitike and Isaac are Liverpool’s future. Slott may need an excuse to make both players key players at Anfield sooner than he imagined.
