Arne Slot confirms he won't speak about Mohamed Salah during AFCON as Liverpool boss claims bust-up is behind pair with 'actions speak louder than words' message

After emerging from the bench to help Liverpool return to winning ways against Brighton last weekend, Salah has now joined up with the Egypt squad for AFCON, which begins on Sunday when hosts Morocco face Comoros. 

The former Roma and Chelsea winger replaced the injured Joe Gomez in the first half of the 2-0 win over Brighton, going on to set up Hugo Ekitike for his second goal of the afternoon with an in-swinging corner on the hour mark. 

It was Salah’s first appearance for Liverpool after he was left out of their Champions League win over Inter Milan on 9 December following an explosive interview in the aftermath of his side’s 3-3 league draw with Leeds United three days earlier.  

Frustrated after being named among the substitutes for the third game in a row against Leeds, Salah accused Liverpool of “throwing me under the bus” and said his relationship with manager Slot had broken down. 

He told a handful of reporters after the full-time whistle at Leeds: “I can’t believe it, I’m very, very disappointed. I have done so much for this club down the years and especially last season.

“I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame. I got a lot of promises in the summer and so far I am on the bench for three games, so I can’t say they keep the promise.

“I said many times before that I had a good relationship with the manager and all of a sudden, we don’t have any relationship. I don’t know why, but it seems to me, how I see it, that someone doesn’t want me in the club.” 

However, as his Liverpool side prepare to lock horns with Thomas Frank’s Tottenham this weekend, Slot has continued to assuage concerns about his relationship with Salah. 

After bringing Salah back into the fold against Brighton, the Dutchman insisted there was “no issue to resolve” with the club’s talisman. He also said it was an “easy decision” to introduce the 33-year-old.

And Slot has now expressed his wish to focus on helping Liverpool rise up the league table, and not on Salah, who he also hopes will be given the freedom to focus on helping Egypt taste AFCON success.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, the former Feyenoord head coach said: “I said last week, actions speak louder than words. We have moved on, he (Salah) was in the squad and he was the first substitution I made [against Brighton].

“Now he’s at the AFCON, playing big games for himself and also for his country, so I think it’s fair to them (Egypt) that all the focus is, for him, over there. But definitely also for us [at Liverpool], because we are going to play some very important games. 

“There should not be any distractions from me saying anything about his time here at Liverpool, because as I said, we’ve moved on after the Leeds interview and he played against Brighton.

“Now he’s there [at AFCON], so it’s fair for the country and for him and also for us to talk, for us, about Tottenham and other games, and for them (Egypt) to be fully focused on their tournament.”

While Liverpool look to make it back-to-back league wins when they head to out-of-form Tottenham, Salah will hope to get his AFCON campaign off to the perfect start when his country face Zimbabwe in their opener next Monday.

The Pharaohs will also take on South Africa on Boxing Day and Angola on Monday, 29 December in Group B.