How Mohamed Salah reacted to Liverpool’s decision to refuse the invitation to the Olympics with Egypt

Liverpool’s decision to stop Mohamed Salah from playing for Egypt at the Olympics has been fully supported by the player himself. The Reds are not worried about upsetting their star player after deciding to hold him back for the entire summer program instead of letting him join the national team for a gold medal chase in France.

Egypt were increasingly accepting that they would not have the talisman with them at the Paris Games. Now new Liverpool boss Arne Slot will have Salah available for the entire pre-season.

The Olympic men’s football tournament begins on July 24, with the final scheduled for August 9, just eight days before Liverpool’s Premier League season opener against Ipswich Town. Having such a key player essentially unavailable for the pre-season was far from ideal.

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Instead, Salah will be among the few first-team stars to return to training this weekend at the AXA Centre. This gives new head coach Slot a significant boost as he plans his first few weeks in the role after taking over from Jurgen Klopp at the start of last month.

Egypt had hoped to include their captain as one of three players cleared over the age of 23 for the Games. However, it is understood that the Egyptian Football Association have not approached Liverpool directly to make the request.

Liverpool have decided that Salah will not be cleared to represent his nation as the Olympics are not a FIFA-mandated tournament. Liverpool were under no obligation to offload a player who has been their top scorer every season since he arrived from Roma in 2017.

Salah himself is understood to have agreed to stay with his club this pre-season following consultation and is keen to get off to the right foot for what is a new era at Anfield under Slot. With Salah set to play for just his second manager on Merseyside in what will be his eighth campaign with the Reds, the now 32-year-old is determined to remain as influential to the new head coach as he was under Klopp.

That means Salah will be part of the club’s squad flying to the United States later this month for friendlies with Real Betis, Arsenal and Manchester United, and the benefit of the entire pre-season program is seen as a hugely positive development.

It also means the Reds will be able to boast having their most famous star in tow on the lucrative tour of the United States, which begins in Pittsburgh against Betis on July 26, before games against bitter rivals United in Philadelphia on July 31 and Arsenal in Colombia on July 31. August 3.

* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can read the original story in the Liverpool ECHO by clicking here.