July 02, (THEWILL) – Jurgen Klopp, manager of former English Premier League champions Liverpool has got his wish with the revelation that inspirational forward Mohamed Salah has been left out of Egypt’s squad for this summer’s upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo next month.
Previously, coach for the Egyptian team Shawky Gharib was particularly keen on including Salah in his squad and made a very public showing of this desire. Indeed, he repeatedly urged the Anfield side to let his forward go with the Reds hesitant to agree due to plans to have Salah in pre-season preparations.
He had been clear about what a player of Salah’s quality will offer his side’s chances: “We got Salah’s approval for playing at the Olympics before sending the request to Liverpool,” Gharib told ON Sport (via the Liverpool Echo). “We are still in discussions with the Premier League club regarding the tournament’s timing.
“Sure, having the experienced players will add more strength to the tournament, but the club may reject the request due to their commitments at the same time of the Olympics.”
It was an uphill task for Gharib because of a lack of enforcement power as the Olympics are not recognised as an official tournament and clubs are given the leave to block their players from turning out at the competition.
This explains why some of the Olympics squads are often populated with mostly Under-23 players that are not always associated with big club signings and the ties that come with that circumstance.
The absence of the backing of FIFA left Egypt at the mercy of Liverpool, who were under no obligation to release Salah. It was no more surprising therefore that when the squad list published on the Egypt Football Association’s official website, Salah’s name was missing.
This frees up the Egyptian to participate fully in the pre-season planned by Jurgen Klopp and the Liverpool management for the club ahead of the 2021/2022 campaign.
Klopp did not offer the club’s position publicly, but they were always highly unlikely to allow Salah to compete at the Olympics, which starts on 21 July and can run until 7 August if Egypt makes progress in the football event. Meanwhile, the new Premier League season only gets underway on 14 August.
For their preseason, Liverpool will want at least two weeks with all of their players for a proper preparation and wholesome team cohesion. That was why it was easy to understand why they were never really keen on letting Salah, one of their hardest working forwards, to go.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
