Arne Slot confirmed he will be holding talks with Mohamed Salah today (Friday) ahead of Liverpool’s game against Brighton on Saturday.
The Egyptian forward has not started in the Reds’ last four matches and remained on the bench in the 3-3 draw against Leeds last week.
After that game, Salah claimed in a surprising interview that “the club had thrown him under the bus”, that he had no relationship with manager Slot and that he couldn’t understand why he was being left out of the starting XI after everything he has done for the club.
Salah was then left out of the squad for the midweek Champions League fixture against Inter Milan and took to Instagram with a post of him training alone back in England.
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When questioned about the striker at Friday morning’s press conference Slot confirmed it was his decision to leave Salah behind in midweek. He said: “The next time I speak about Mo should be with him, and not here.
“I will have a conversation with Mo this morning, the outcome of that conversation will determine how it will look tomorrow.
“We decided as a club, and I was part of the decision, not to take him to the Inter Milan game. I am always in contact with them (Micheal Edwards and Richard Hughes).
“But when it comes to the decision of the line-up or the squad, they leave that to me.”
Much has been made of the situation since Salah’s explosive comments, with speculation that Brighton could be his last game for the club he joined from Roma over eight years ago. But Slot confirmed the line of communication between the club and Salah’s representatives has stayed open.
He said: “We have spoken a lot in the last week after the Sunderland game. There has been a lot of conversations between Mo’s representatives and ours, between him and me.”
When questioned regarding whether he wants Salah to remain at the club, and the current state of his relationship with the striker, Slot selected his words carefully, but was clear he has no reason to want two-time Premier League winner to leave Liverpool.
Despite this, the Dutchman did not comment on whether his decisions were justified after the team remains unbeaten in their last four, saying: “This club has won a lot of games with him (Salah), so that’s the answer to your question.”
The Reds welcome Brighton to Anfield on Saturday, along with the return of Federico Chiesa as the midfielder returned to training on Thursday after a brief illness.
Said Slot: “He trained yesterday and will train today, so I assume he is ready to be in the squad tomorrow again.”
However, Slot said it will be “weeks” before Liverpool see the return of Wataru Endo and Cody Gakpo with the pair struggling with injury.
Alexander Isak is also a doubt for Saturday after the striker picked up a knock against Inter Milan.
With no update on Jeremie Frimpong, it seems the right-back is still not fully fit after suffering a long-term hamstring injury, alongside Conor Bradley, who is serving a one-game suspension after five yellow cards in the Premier League.
