Jurgen Klopp plays down Mohamed Salah AFCON row as Liverpool boss insists Egypt talisman can leave ‘earlier’ depending on injury recovery

The Liverpool boss has explained that Salah will be allowed to return to the Africa Cup of Nations once he recovers from his current injury. The Egyptian star was substituted off during the 2-2 draw against Ghana and has since come back to England for treatment on the problem.

Speaking in his latest press conference, Klopp said: "All parties agreed that it makes sense for him to do the rehab here. That is what we are doing now. We have a season to play and we want him fit. If he is fit earlier, as long as his team are still in the tournament, he will go back. That is clear.

"It's a win-win and then he is coming back after that, after the tournament or whenever. That is the situation. The rest is just blown up discussions because somebody said something and all of a sudden you have to react on everything. We have to be sensible in this moment, even the Egyptian FA. We all agree on that."

Liverpool had previously been criticised by Egypt’s national team doctor, Mohamed Abouela, after announcing his return to England ahead of the arranged date. Speaking to ON Time Sports, Abouela said: "I don't wait for someone to tell me how I work. I'm always doing enough to improve myself and I'm not the one to announce injuries and the timing, but my role is only to treat the players.

"We have enough potential but in two days we will travel to the poorly equipped city of San Pedro, so we found that his treatment at Liverpool would be better. Our agreement with Liverpool was two days ago, and the agreement was to announce the matter after the Cape Verde match, but Jurgen Klopp is the one who announced early [after the 4-0 win at Bournemouth on Sunday], and Salah himself did not want to travel and if he wanted to leave from day one.

"When will Salah return from injury with his treatment at Liverpool? I can't say that because muscle injury depends on how much you get better on a daily basis. But I can say that we worked with Salah for four days well, and the player improved in them as well as possible.”

The forward will continue his rehab in England with the aim of returning to action as soon as possible. For now, he will watch both his national team and club from the sidelines, as Egypt prepare to face DR Congo on Sunday and Liverpool look ahead to an FA Cup tie against Norwich City on the same day.