Egypt boss Shawky Gharib claims he saw his attempts to involve Mohamed Salah in his Olympics plans blocked by Liverpool.
The summer Olympics are fast approaching and those involved in the football segment of the games are now calling up their squads ahead of the July 21 start date.
As part of that, Egypt were hoping to call upon their star man in Salah, but they saw their requests denied by Liverpool despite the fact the winger himself wanted to represent his country in Tokyo.
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That’s according to Egypt boss Gharib, who is not best pleased with the way the Merseyside club have handled the situation.
“I tried many, many times with Liverpool, as did the Egypt FA, but they refused completely,” he said, as cited by Anfield watch.
“Mohamed wanted to play the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. He talked with me, I did my best to bring him. Salah was a key player in my Olympic plans. But the club refused – we need to move on.”
Egypt FA President Ahmed Megahed added: “We started talking with them a long time ago because Salah wanted to play the Olympic Games, but Liverpool were unclear. I knew in June they would not let him go. Anyway we respect their decision.”
? NEW: Egypt coach Shawky Gharib admits he tried on several occasions to convince Liverpool to allow Mo Salah to travel to Japan for the Olympics this summer.
“I tried many, many times with Liverpool, as did the Egypt FA, but they refused completely.” #awlive [mail] pic.twitter.com/RDEJnnBnza
— Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch) July 6, 2021
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Liverpool fans may be relieved to hear Salah won’t be headed to the Olympics and, as a result, won’t be missing any club action, but there are questions to be asked over the situation if the claims are true.
The decision over whether to represent ones country should be left up to the players, and given the Olympics only come around every four years – or five in this case – it feels unfair that Salah has been blocked from playing despite his desire to do so.