Mohamed Salah left out of Egypt squad as Liverpool future remains unclear

The Egypt national team beat Nigeria 2-1 in their final friendly ahead of AFCON 2025. However, their captain, Mohamed Salah, was notably absent from the squad. Head coach Hossam Hassan has not commented on Salah’s absence, leaving questions unanswered.

Salah has now been left out for the sixth time, including five matches for Liverpool and this friendly. Rumours suggest he needs time to recover after leaving England, alongside teammate Omar Marmoush. Others fear that the captain could miss Egypt’s opening match at AFCON.

‘The Egyptian King’ is believed to be fully focused on the tournament, as this could be his last chance to win the AFCON title. The next edition will be held in the summer of 2027, when Salah will be 35 years old. Throughout his career, Salah has never lifted the AFCON trophy. His closest attempt came in 2017, when Egypt lost 1-2 to Cameroon in the final.

In AFCON 2022, Salah said: “Of course I want to win something with the national team. It’s my country, what I love the most. This trophy would be completely different for me, the closest to my heart. We were close before in 2017, we gave everything but were not lucky enough to win it.

“But it’s okay, now we are here again. We have to fight for it, give everything to win it, and I’m sure the players have the same feeling.”

While Salah prepares for AFCON, his future at Liverpool remains unclear. After resolving issues with head coach Arne Slot, sources close to the club suggest there is still a chance Salah could leave, possibly in the summer. Others claim that Slot and the players want him to stay and at least see out his contract until 2027.

Egypt’s group at AFCON 2025 includes Angola, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Their opening match is against Zimbabwe at 3:00 AM on 23/12 (GMT+7), followed by games against South Africa on 26/12 and Angola on 29/12.