At a time when the Professional Players Association in England chose the Egyptian star Mohamed Salah in the team of the season, his club, Liverpool, ignored the response by agreeing to the request of the Egyptian Football Association to use Salah in the Tokyo Olympics.
The squad for the 2020-2021 season, announced by the League yesterday, Friday, witnessed the dominance of the players of the Manchester City team, the English Premier League football club, with 6 of its players in the squad.
The team includes: Ederson, Joao Cancelo, John Stones, Robin Diaz, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City), Luke Shaw and Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Son Heung-min and Harry Kane (Tottenham).
Ignore Liverpool and reject Klopp
On the other hand, the head of the tripartite committee in charge of managing the Egyptian Football Association, Ahmed Megahed, announced that an agreement had not yet been reached with Liverpool regarding Salah’s leadership of the Egyptian team’s squad for the Tokyo Olympics next month.
Mujahid told Reuters, “Our contacts with Liverpool have not stopped, and we are seeking from them to obtain approval for Salah to join the Olympic team, and although there is no final response from Liverpool, we place great hopes on their approval. Salah’s presence with the Olympic team is very important.”
The coach of the Egyptian Olympic team, Shawky Gharib, confirmed that Salah is at the top of the three big candidates to lead the team in Tokyo, along with Mohamed El-Shennawy, Al-Ahly goalkeeper, and Ahmed Hegazy, defender of the Saudi Federation.
Megahed confirmed that there is still time before sending the final list of the Egyptian team that will participate in the Olympics.
All teams must submit their final lists no later than 30 June.
Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp had hinted at his refusal to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, because it would cause him to be late for the team’s pre-season preparation period.
Salah, who will turn 29 in the middle of this month, topped the list of Liverpool’s top scorer in the English Premier League last season, and the second top scorer in the competition with 22 goals, one goal behind Tottenham striker Harry Kane.