Mohamed Salah‘s departure date for the Africa Cup of Nations has been confirmed by Liverpool’s Arne Slot.
Salah will leave on Dec. 15 to join up with Egypt for the tournament which runs from Dec. 21 to Jan. 18.
Slot has praised the professionalism of Salah after the forward was left out of the starting line-up in Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over West Ham United.
Goals from Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo ended a run of three straight defeats for the Premier League champions at the London Stadium, with Salah remaining an unused substitute.
It was the first time the Egypt international had been dropped to the bench in the league since April 2024, when previous manager Jürgen Klopp was still in charge.
“That is a fair assumption [that Salah was disappointed not to start] and a normal reaction from a player that is good enough to play for us,” Slot said.
“And I say it mildly because he has been so outstanding for this club for so many years and will be for us in the future. Of course, a player is not happy he isn’t playing. He was not the only one who wasn’t happy he wasn’t starting, I can tell you — and that’s normal.
“But the way he behaved is what you would expect from the professional he is. He was very supportive for his teammates, handled himself really well during the day and yesterday in the session as well.
“You cannot be a player that’s available every three days and play at those high standards if you go with your emotions, but Mo is so disciplined, knows what he has to do to stay fit. No matter if he plays well, doesn’t play or if he doesn’t play, he will always be that top professional and that is what he’s been in the last few days.”
– What the Big Six Premier League teams need to do before January window
– Hillsborough: Report into sporting disaster to be published on Tuesday
– ‘No doubt’ about Florian Wirtz’s ‘amazing’ quality – Liverpool’s Mac Allister
Sunday’s clash with West Ham saw Isak score his first league goal for Liverpool, while fellow summer signing Florian Wirtz also impressed.
Asked whether it will be possible to field the same team against Sunderland at Anfield on Wednesday night, Slot said: “I haven’t felt so much about that because yesterday we had recovery and we are going to train so let’s see how players feel.
“Florian has missed one-and-a-half, two weeks of training so for him to already play so many minutes was a good thing.
“Joe Gomez another one. It was encouraging to see Florian playing that well but it’s not the first time, maybe the first time other people noticed but I’ve seen him playing for us well many times already, and to see Alex score his first goal was also very positive.
“Also, a player who could not play five to 10 minutes more than he played because he told me yesterday he felt a bit of cramp coming up so another player where we should see how he does when he trains today.”
