Liverpool Confirm Salah Release After Brighton Match

Despite previous reports Egypt were pushing for and confident in getting Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah into the mix early for their pre-Africa Cup of Nations warm-up against Nigeria on December 14th, Liverpool manager Arne Slot today has confirmed he will not be released for national team duty until the following day.

That will ensure Salah is available for a Premier League match against Brighton on the 13th—which he would not have been if he had been released to play an international fixture 24 hours later. Salah was already scheduled to miss up to six Premier League matches. That’s more than normal during AFCoN due to the small matter of the tournament being shifted into December and overlapping with the busy holiday fixture list in England.

“It’s the 15th of December, but as always in these situations there is a player involved, there is the nation involved, and the club and there are always talks about what is best for all three of us,” Slot noted. “I think the way we’ve worked at this club is there is communication between all three: the player, the club and the country.”

This year, the Africa Cup of Nations (which is being called the 2025 edition) runs from December 21st to January 18th, and if Egypt go deep in the tournament Liverpool are set to be without Salah for a stretch that includes six league fixtures against Tottenham, Wolves, Leeds, Fulham, Arsenal, and Burnley.