Mohamed Salah will be back in the Liverpool squad when Arne Slot’s team host Brighton on Saturday with the head coach admitting the past week has been far from enjoyable.
Slot and Salah held face-to-face talks at Liverpool’s training centre on Friday having been in a stand-off since the forward accused the club of throwing him under a bus after the game at Leeds last Saturday. He also claimed his relationship with Slot had broken down.
Details of their conversation remain private so it is not known whether Salah apologised to Slot for the highly critical interview at Elland Road, but the 33-year-old has been included in the squad for the match at Anfield. Salah had said the Brighton game would be an opportunity for him to say goodbye to Liverpool fans before departing for the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday. He had asked his mother to be present at Anfield too in case it proved to be the final game of a phenomenal Liverpool career.
It is understood that issues remain over Salah’s response to being named on the bench for three successive Liverpool games for the first time. The player’s time away at Afcon will give the Liverpool hierarchy and Salah’s representative, Ramy Abbas Issa, opportunity to tackle the situation before the Egypt international returns to the club in January.
Salah’s inclusion against Brighton was dependent on the outcome of his conversation with Slot, the head coach had said earlier on Friday, so the recall indicates some improvement in relations. He had been omitted from Tuesday’s Champions League win at Inter on the basis that a short period out of the team suited all parties. Salah subsequently posted selfies of him training alone and had dinner with former Liverpool teammate Jordan Henderson in London on Wednesday. Henderson had a miserable spell in Saudi Arabia following his departure from Liverpool. Saudi Pro League clubs Al‑Ittihad and Al-Hilal are known to be keen on signing Salah.
Slot would not have recalled the forward had he believed it was against the best interests of the team and the club. Speaking to the media before he met Salah, the Dutchman revealed the saga had been a strain and he had never wanted to fall out with the third highest goalscorer in Liverpool’s history.
“The biggest factor is – do the best for the team and for the club,” Slot had said. “I haven’t said this before but I can say I am definitely not enjoying this situation. It’s not like I’m happy we are in this situation by far. We have won the league together and he has done so much for the club. Ideally you are not in a situation like this with your player. I am far from enjoying it but I have to make my lineups doing what is best for the club and for the team, in my opinion. That’s not to say that I do so but it is about my opinion. To tell you that I like it, no, I don’t like it and I’m not enjoying it.
‘I don’t like it and I’m not enjoying it,’ said Liverpool manager Arne Slot of the Salah situation. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images/Reuters
“If I can, and it is also good for the team and for the club, I would definitely prefer to [avoid a circus against Brighton] because I don’t think it’s in the interests of the team and the club that we keep having, and I don’t think it’s a circus for me, but if it is a circus that is not helpful for anyone. So you try to avoid it as long as you can do what is best for the team.”
Slot confirmed talks had taken place between the Liverpool hierarchy and Abbas Issa after the draw against Sunderland, when Salah had been dropped for the second time but was introduced at half-time. He also insisted: “I have no reasons for not wanting him to stay,” when asked whether he wanted Salah to remain at Liverpool.
The Liverpool head coach is adamant that Salah was treated respectfully, and in keeping with his elevated status at Anfield, when the time came to drop him following a poor run of form by both the player and the team.
Asked whether he applies the same process when dropping a player, Slot replied: “No. It depends on their status, how many times they’ve played, how long they are already inside the club. For me it’s obvious that it works like that. A young player or a squad player who has played once or twice doesn’t get the same time or information as a player who is playing on a regular basis, let alone if you are not playing a player who has played for so many years as a starter.
“Was that the claim of a pundit or was that his explanation? [That Salah had been treated brusquely] I think that is then a situation where people have no clue how much I spoke to him. I know how much I spoke to him.
“It’s up to others to decide, if they knew, if that was enough. If it would have been 250 hours, was 250 hours enough? I know how much the two of us spoke, not only in the week before West Ham or before Sunderland or before Leeds but also in recent weeks and months.”
