The discourse around Mo Salah‘s injury recovery continued as Jurgen Klopp held his pre-Norwich press conference.
A strong statement from Salah’s agent
Salah’s agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, has come out in support of his Egyptian client after, earlier in the day, Klopp sent a similar message.
In recent days, Liverpool’s No. 11 has been criticised for Egypt and Liverpool’s decision to rehabilitate him on Merseyside, instead of in the Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The same individuals and ‘influencers’ who get weak in the knees when they happen to bump into Mohamed in person and beg for ‘follows’ or selfies, tried to capitalise on an unfortunate injury and questioned Mohamed’s commitment to his country. They did this looking for fame,…
— Ramy Abbas Issa (@RamyCol) January 25, 2024
The agent said that some of these critics only did it “looking for fame, clicks and likes.”
In his tirade on X, he took aim at influencers who “tried to capitalise on an unfortunate injury and questioned Mohamed’s commitment to his country.”
Shortly before Abbas’ statement, Salah reinforced on Instagram that he “will do everything possible to be ready as soon as possible and return to the national team as agreed from the beginning.”
Trent not in team training
There was positive news on the injury front, as Klopp updated us on the Liverpool’s absentees, but fans may have to wait a little longer to see Trent Alexander-Arnold back in action.
The boss said Andy Robertson is “physically ready” to play and is “completely in a normal team training schedule.”
Similar was said of Dominik Szoboszlai, who will be back in full training from Friday.
Alexander-Arnold, however, is slightly behind the others in his recovery and is “not even in parts of team training yet.”
It looks more likely we’ll see the No. 66 back in the squad at some point next week, while Robertson and Szoboszlai could well make the matchday squad against Norwich.
3 things today
- Kostas Tsimikas is “actually fit,” Klopp said, but just needs the “green light because the bone healing takes much longer”
Thiago and Stefan Bajcetic “will be back as well sooner rather than later” – don’t we all?
- Klopp spoke again on Mo Salah, of whom he said “if he is fit earlier, as long as Egypt is still in the tournament, he will go back, that’s clear” – he also set the record straight with some of Salah’s critics
Latest Liverpool FC news
- David Lynch reports for This Is Anfield, the Anfield Road End won’t be fully open vs. Chelsea – the optimistic target of late January will be missed
- Liverpool supporters have been allocated the east side of Wembley for the League Cup final – we had the west stand for all three 2022 fixtures. More details here
- Klopp revealed that Jarell Quansah‘s form changed Liverpool’s summer transfer plans – a gamble that has paid off!
Transfers in brief
- Marc Guehi is “top of” Liverpool’s “transfer wishlist” but the “deal has to wait until the summer,” reports David Anderson for the Mirror
- Journalist Lewis Steele reports Cardiff, Blackburn and Leeds are interested in Nat Phillips. Leeds and Southampton have an eye on Calvin Ramsay, too
- The Liverpool Women forward, Natasha Flint, has rejoined Celtic on loan until the end of the season – she only signed last summer
Post of the day and match of the night
Here is Salah giving a personal update on his injury recovery, as well as reiterating his love for Egypt.
Match of the (Burns) night is Bournemouth vs. Swansea in the FA Cup fourth round – yes, it is another strange Thursday night FA Cup match.
The match kicks off at 7.45pm (GMT) and is on S4C as well as BBC iPlayer for UK viewers.
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