Liverpool refuses to release Mo Salah for Egypt’s World Cup qualifiers

The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) said yesterday that Liverpool has refused to allow Egypt captain Mohamed Salah to travel home for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers next month because he would be forced to quarantine upon his return to England.

“The Egyptian Football Association had received a letter from Liverpool apologising for the inability of its player, Mohamed Salah, from joining the national team for next month’s African qualifiers for the World Cup,” EFA said in a statement.

“The English club’s letter referred to the precautionary measures applied in England to confront the outbreak of the coronavirus, which forces returnees from some countries to compulsory health isolation for a period of 10 days upon their return to England,” it added.

“In its letter, the English club also expressed its hope that the Egyptian association would understand that it was forced to do so, in the face of the player being subjected to a quarantine,” the EFA statement added.

In its letter, Liverpool explained that it had taken the same position with a number of its foreign players.

READ: Liverpool refuse Mo Salah’s request to join Egypt in Tokyo Olympics