Liverpool and Egypt could be on AFCON collision course as Mo Salah preference outlined | OneFootball

Mo Salah could find himself at the centre of a tug-of-war between Liverpool and Egypt over the coming weeks.

The 33-year-old is set to miss the Reds’ festive fixtures due to his involvement at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which runs from 21 December to 18 January, and the Pharaohs will be among the favourites to go deep into the competition in Morocco.

Reports from his homeland last week claimed that national team coach Hossam Hassan wants to summon his squad to prepare for the tournament a full two weeks before it begins, with the risk of further compromising the winger’s availability for his club.

Salah would prefer to stay with Liverpool for as long as possible

In his latest Liverpool Confidential roundup for Mail Sport, Lewis Steele reported that Salah is due to hold talks with the Egypt coach next week to try and reach the most amicable solution for all parties involved.

Hassan is permitted to call up the Reds winger a fortnight before the start of AFCON, which could see the 33-year-old miss the Champions League away to Inter Milan on 9 December and a Premier League clash at home to Brighton four days later.

It’s understood that the player’s preference would be to remain with his club for those two games and then depart to link up with his country, with LFC’s exit from the Carabao Cup leaving them a rare free midweek after they take on the Seagulls.

(Photo by Mohamed Hossam/Getty Images)

How many games could Salah miss due to AFCON?

The best-case scenario for Liverpool would obviously be that Salah stays for the Inter and Brighton games and Egypt suffer a surprise group stage exit at AFCON, which could see him return as early as the New Year’s Day fixture at home to Leeds (although that window would still be tight).

Conversely, if he agrees to join up with Hassan’s squad for the entirety of their training camp and they go on to reach the semi-finals (and a subsequent final or third place play-off), he’d miss eight Reds matches in total, including away clashes against Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal.

This’ll be the third time in his LFC career that the winger has left for the African tournament mid-season, and while there were no issues four years ago, he infuriated fans in his homeland by flying back to Merseyside early after getting injured in the 2023 edition (which took place in January 2024).

Salah never truly recovered for the rest of that campaign and Liverpool’s Premier League title pursuit ultimately tailed off, and Arne Slot will be praying that there isn’t a repeat scenario in the New Year.

With the Reds’ number 11 seemingly preferring to leave it as late as possible to link up with the Egypt squad, hopefully Hassan will be amenable to his star player’s wishes and a cordial compromise can be reached.

You can watch Slot’s full post-Real Madrid press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: