Arne Slot has twice now avoided questions on whether Mo Salah will feature against Brighton on Saturday, but a journalist has said it is “plausible he could” play.
Following Salah’s interview in which he claimed the club had ‘thrown him under a bus’, the Egyptian was left out of Liverpool’s travelling squad to play Inter Milan.
He did, though, train with the team on Monday and all seemed well on the surface.
Asked directly on Amazon Prime Video if Salah could return for the Brighton match, which the 33-year-old has hinted could be his last at Anfield.
“We are here for Inter Milan game and I think you can understand that the last two days were already a lot of things going on after conceding in the last minute against Leeds, not for the first time this season then what happened afterwards,” Slot said.
“So I think you can understand that my full focus is now on Inter Milan and we will see what the future holds.”
During his press conference on Monday night, Slot said similar but added: “Most thoughts I had are about tomorrow and in the meantime, we’ve decided what I just said, not to take him with us to this game and after tomorrow we will look at the situation again.”
While Slot remained relatively tight-lipped about the situation, he offered an insight to the club’s strong reaction, telling Prime: “Everybody can have his opinion and use his own words about what he thinks about the situation, but it’s also up to us to react to that if a player uses words we cannot accept.”
Clearly, Liverpool were not pleased with the interview given by Salah as the decision to keep him on Merseyside this week was “taken by sporting director Richard Hughes in conjunction with the club’s ownership and Slot,” according to Athletic journalist David Ornstein.
The reporter also shed some light on whether Salah could play against Brighton, telling NBC Sports: “It follows his comments in relation specifically to his future, casting that into doubt, not his comments on his relationship with Arne Slot.
“[It is] a common-sense decision and there will be no disciplinary action taken against him.
“It’s described as being a short-term measure, so it’s plausible he could come back into the frame for selection against Brighton…
“This was a decision taken by the club, not by Arne Slot.”
With Federico Chiesa ill and Cody Gakpo injured, it is a real statement from the club not to take Salah to Milan, indicating they are not pleased with him despite the decision supposedly not being a disciplinary action.
If he were to be left out against Brighton, the last game before he leaves for AFCON, there will be a real chance that we have seen Salah in a Liverpool shirt for the last time.