Jurgen Klopp believes Mohamed Salah could play for Liverpool against Leicester on Thursday night, but has revealed there is “no chance” Sadio Mane will be involved.
Salah and Mane played out the Africa Cup of Nations final on Sunday evening, with Senegal victorious over Egypt for their first-ever tournament triumph.
The scenes in Dakar as Mane and his team-mates paraded the AFCON trophy on Monday night were incredible, but 2,788 miles away, Salah was already back on Merseyside.
Liverpool have confirmed that Salah is now due to take part in a recovery session at the AXA Training Centre and, after checks from the club’s medical staff, could be involved against Leicester.
Speaking to LiverpoolFC.com, Klopp detailed the plan for his No. 11, admitting that “[to] play him as often and as long as possible is probably the plan.”
“I spoke to him and pretty much the first thing Mo told me was: ‘I’m ready’,” the manager said.
“He is an experienced player, he is a physical monster, to be honest, so we have to see.
“He will obviously have a little recovery session today and we will see how he feels tomorrow and from there we go.
“The proper plan we don’t have, play him as often and as long as possible is probably the plan, but we will not rush it.
“But if he is fine we will not leave him out for the wrong reasons as well, so let’s see.”
It stands to reason that Salah will at least be in the squad on Thursday night, and there sounds like there is even a chance he could start against Leicester.
However, Mane is not even due back in England until late on Wednesday at the earliest, with Klopp ruling him out as he allows the Senegal forward to celebrate a momentous occasion.
“Sadio [has] no chance as he’s not even here, but Mo yes,” Klopp continued.
“Sadio flies out if it’s possible on Wednesday night, so will arrive here on Thursday but he is, of course, then not involved in the Leicester game.
“It means the world to him, it means the world to his people, it means the world to Senegal and we respect that a lot and we would never consider to have called back him from there or whatever – let them do what they do in the moment because they deserve it.
“They’ve had an incredibly intense time, so when he is back we will talk to him and we will see how we can use him.”
Fan Comments