Mo Salah offered early exit from Egypt duty – “violent” opponents and injury risk

October 12, 2024
Jack Lusby

Mohamed Salah could join Virgil van Dijk in returning to Liverpool early this international break, with an offer to skip Egypt’s trip to Mauritania next week.

Salah scored as Egypt beat Mauritania 2-0 on home soil on Friday evening, making it three wins from three so far in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying group.

Tuesday brings the reverse fixture at Stade Cheikha Ould Boidiya, an 8,200-capacity stadium in Nouakchott which has an artificial pitch.

With concerns over injury on that surface along with the “violent” nature of the Mauritania side, Egypt manager Hossam Hassan has offered Salah – and any of his teammates – the opportunity to pull out of the tie.

“If any player asks not to play the next match, which will be on an artificial turf pitch, I will agree,” Hassan told reporters after Friday’s win, per WinWin.

“The Mauritanian national team plays hard and with violent tackles as well.

“If Salah asks me not to play the next match, I will agree because of the difficulty of the pitch and in order to preserve him.

“Liverpool did not ask me for anything, and no professional asked me not to play the match.”

Hassan’s comments came after earlier reports that Salah has requested to skip the game, though there is no official confirmation at this stage.

• READ: Salah scores, Gakpo assists & Gravenberch vs. Szoboszlai – LFC internationals

If Salah were to miss that qualifier, it raises the possibility of returning to Liverpool early in the buildup to next weekend’s clash with Chelsea at Anfield.

However, it would almost certainly be an unpopular decision if so, with Salah already attracting major criticism in his home country having opted for treatment at the AXA Training Centre after picking up an injury during AFCON in January.

Van Dijk will be among the first to rejoin Liverpool training next week having left the Netherlands camp following his red card against Hungary.

There are few others from Arne Slot‘s first-team squad who are not on duty this month, with Vitezslav Jaros and Joe Gomez left out and Alisson, Harvey Elliott and Federico Chiesa unavailable for selection due to injury.

Curtis Jones was belatedly called into Lee Carsley’s England squad to face Greece and Finland, but has now withdrawn for the latter fixture to attend to a personal matter.