Salah will join Egypt’s squad for the mid-season Africa Cup of Nations, with the number 11 already set to miss at least three games for his club.
But Hassan, director of the Egyptian national team, told the story win win that talks are underway with both Liverpool and Man City about the early release of Salah and Omar Marmoush.
That’s because Egypt will host a friendly warm-up with Nigeria on December 14 as part of a training camp ahead of the tournament starting on December 21.
Salah and Marmoush were only expected to head to AFCON after their clashes with Brighton (December 13) and Crystal Palace (December 14) respectively.
But if they were to join Egypt for that friendly in Cairo, it would mean missing an extra match for their clubs.
AFCON: Liverpool can lose Salah for a maximum of eight games
Liverpool already know Salah will be unavailable for the Premier League meetings with Tottenham (December 20), Wolves (December 27) and Leeds (January 1), but face uncertainty over how long he will be required to serve.
The AFCON 2025, which takes place in Morocco, runs from December 21 to January 18, meaning that if Egypt were to reach the final or third place, Salah could also miss a further four matches.
Salah’s AFCON schedule
• December 13: Liverpool vs Brighton
• December 14: Egypt vs. Nigeria (friendly)
• December 22: Egypt vs Zimbabwe
• December 26: Egypt vs South Africa
• December 29: Angola vs Egypt
• January 3/4/5: Round of 16
• January 9/10: Quarterfinals
• January 14: Semi-finals
• January 17: Third place play-off
• January 18: Final
• January 21: Marseille vs Liverpool
These would be against Fulham (January 4), Arsenal (January 8) and Burnley (January 17), as well as Liverpool’s FA Cup third round tie (January 11).
Egypt manager Hossam Hassan clearly wants his key players involved as early as possible and the rules state that call-ups will be allowed from December 7 – although that is extremely unlikely.
Club vs. country brewing
But the desire to include Salah in the meeting with Nigeria a week before the tournament signals a battle between clubs and countries.
However, the Egyptian Football Association has already confirmed that Liverpool’s third-highest goalscorer of all time will be rested for Monday’s friendly against Cape Verde.
Salah will watch from the stands as the third-placed decider for the Al Ain International Cup takes place in Dubai at 4pm UK time.
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