LIVERPOOL could lose Mohamed Salah for a large chunk of next season in an Olympic and African Cup of Nations double-whammy.
Salah, 28, is due to take part in the rearranged 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo next summer as one of Egypt’s three over-age players.
Liverpool could lose Salah for three months next season due to the Olympics and AfconCredit: Reuters
Meanwhile, the African Cup of Nations has been pushed back to take place in January and February 2022.
Combined, this could see the Liverpool winger miss a substantial amount of games for his club during the 2021-22 season – possibly between two and three months.
Next summer’s Olympics are now scheduled to take place between July 23 and August 8.
This would mean that Salah could miss much of Liverpool’s pre-season and their opening to the 2021-22 Premier League campaign.
The Reds could also lose Senegal star Sadio Mane and Guinea ace Naby Keita in a bitter blow to Jurgen Klopp’s plans.
Egypt Under-23s boss Shawky Garib told Ahram Online: ‘The team’s technical staff and the Egyptian Football Association have the desire to call up Mohamed Salah for the Olympics.
“Salah is a world class player and I hope that he will be able to play with us in the Olympics.”
Garib backed up his stance by pointing to Neymar’s involvement in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro – helping the Samba Boys to gold.
Egypt coach Shawky Garib has made it clear he wants Salah in his Olympics squadCredit: Reuters
The coach continued: “When you have such a player in your team, the objectives of the team would be different.
“Brazil won the gold medal in Rio De Janeiro thanks to Neymar who led the Brazilian team in this competition.”
Garib had stated his intentions months ago – and in July even admitted Salah is the ONLY player he has so far decided to call-up to his squad.
He added: “The only and first name I put in the squad is Mohamed Salah.
“All Egyptian players would like to have the honour to play in the Olympics but all of us wanted Salah so he will be with us.
“I’m ready to put all the pressure on Liverpool to accept his participation, and I could travel to England for that.
“I remember when I was the assistant coach of the Egyptian National Team.
Liverpool will be desperate to not lose Salah twice in the same seasonCredit: AP:Associated Press
“I travelled to Germany to meet Jurgen Klopp and convince him to let Mohamed Zidan join the team and he accepted.
“We will use Salah of course and the Egyptian Football Federation will play a role.”
Former Premier League star Mido previously exclusively told SunSport he believes Salah MUST play in the Olympics and Afcon.
In April, Mido said: “Salah must go with Egypt to Afcon – and Liverpool don’t have the right to say no.
“These are Fifa rules and they can’t prevent Salah from joining the national team for any reason.
“If Salah doesn’t want to go, then this is the only reason for not seeing him.
“Salah is very important, of course, to our senior national team and to the Olympic team.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
