Salah is leaving: Confirmed date for the African Cup with Egypt

Confirmed Departure Date for Mohamed Salah for the Africa Cup of Nations

Liverpool coach Arne Slot has confirmed the date on which Mohamed Salah will join the Egyptian national team for the Africa Cup of Nations. Salah will leave the team on December 15 to participate in the tournament, which will take place from December 21 to January 18. Slot praised Salah’s professionalism after the forward was not included in the starting eleven in Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over West Ham United.

Mohamed Salah will join the Africa Cup of Nations.Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo’s goals ended a run of three consecutive defeats for the Premier League champion at the London Stadium, with Salah as an unused substitute. It was the first time the Egyptian international was relegated to the bench in the league since April 2024, when Jürgen Klopp was still in charge.

That’s a fair assumption [that Salah was disappointed not to start] and a normal reaction from a player who is good enough to play for us,” Slot said.

Arne Slot

Slot continued praising Salah’s attitude:

And I say it softly 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 not to play. He wasn’t the only one who wasn’t happy not to start, I can tell you, and that’s normal.

Arne Slot

The coach also highlighted Salah’s professionalism:

But the way he behaved is what you would expect from the professional that he is. He supported his teammates a lot, behaved very well during the day and also yesterday in the session.

Arne Slot

The Sunday match against West Ham saw Isak score his first league goal for Liverpool, while fellow summer signing Florian Wirtz also impressed. When asked if it will be possible to field the same team against Sunderland on Wednesday night at Anfield, Slot said:

I haven’t thought much about that because we had recovery yesterday and we are going to train, so we’ll see how the players feel.

Arne Slot

Slot continued talking about Wirtz’s performance and other players:

Florian has missed a week and a half, two weeks of training, so for him playing so many minutes was a good thing.

Arne Slot