Egypt chief makes Mohamed Salah and Liverpool claim after Tokyo Olympics saga
Speaking to MBCMasr via KingFUT (h/t Liverpool Echo), Egypt U23 and Olympics national head coach, Shawky Gharib, stated that Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah desired to represent his country in Tokyo this summer.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, just like the UEFA Euros, were scheduled to happen last year. However, Covid-19 forced a delay, leading to the Summer Olympic Games being played in July 2021.
It is always an honour to represent your country at whatever stage, let alone the Olympics, and Salah had the chance to do just that for the Egyptians. The Egypt FA hoped he could be one of their three permitted overage players in the squad.
But the 29-year-old’s participation in the games was seen by Liverpool as detrimental to the club’s best interests. The competition does not come under the jurisdiction of FIFA, thus permitting the Reds to stand in Salah’s way. (h/t Liverpool Echo)
Egypt and LFC tussle for Salah
Gharib, who will be without Salah and Galatasaray’s Mostafa Mohamed in Japan, understood the club’s reasons for pulling the two players out of the competition.
“All negotiations with Liverpool and Galatasaray have not been successful, as the two clubs want the two players with them in the coming period. The Turkish club signed Mostafa Mohamed in order to participate in European competitions, so it’s their right to keep him. The same goes for Liverpool.”
He claimed that the duo had a strong desire to compete for their country and that whatever transpired was not in the hands of the players, but their respective clubs.
“Mohamed Salah had a strong desire to be with the Olympic team in Tokyo and also Mostafa Mohamed; but what happened was out of their control.”
Salah is Liverpool’s primary goal threat. Having the 29-year-old match-fit and ready for the beginning of next season is highly important for the Merseysiders if they wish to get their hands on any silverware.
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While the Reds were successful in their attempts to keep Salah for the pre-season, the winger would join up with his national team for AFCON in January 2022, and that is a situation Liverpool should be ready to tackle.
