The Liverpool manager says the world’s best football player is back and wants to play a role on Thursday.
Mohamed Salah’s Africa Cup of Nations ended in disappointment as Egypt fell on penalties to Senegal—having won two of their three previous knockout round matches on penalties—after the underdogs were dragged to the final by their star forward.
Now, the Premier League’s top goalscorer is back in Liverpool. And despite the minutes he’s played in recent weeks and the disappointment of Sunday’s result, as previously rumoured the player is pushing for the chance to face Leicester City on Thursday.
“I spoke to him and pretty much the first thing Mo told me was, ‘I’m ready,’” said manager Jürgen Klopp when asked about Salah’s situation and status. “He is very disappointed of course, but looking forward to all the things coming up here now.
“He is an experienced player, he is a physical monster, so we have to see. He will obviously have a little recovery session today and we will see how he feels tomorrow and from there we go. If he is fine we will not leave him out for the wrong reasons.”
Salah’s Liverpool teammate and Sunday AFCoN rival Sadio Mané, on the other hand, won’t be in contention for Thursday given he’s been busy parading Senegal’s first mahor trophy around Dakar in recent days and likely return to England until Thursday.
“Sadio flies out if it’s possible on Wednesday night so will arrive here on Thursday,” noted Klopp, “It means the world to him, it means the world to his people, it means the world to Senegal and we respect that and we would never have called him back.”
