Tag: Mohamed Salah

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah insists winning is what keeps him happy.

Over the last month there has been a lot of debate about Salah’s contract situation as he has yet to follow the example of a number of senior players this year and sign an extension to a deal which expires in the summer of 2023.

Reports suggest the stumbling block is the Egypt international’s wages, with claims that Salah looking for £300,000-a-week-plus so he can have parity with some of the Premier League’s top earners.

Liverpool’s policy is not to hand out big contracts to players over the age of 30 – Salah reaches that mark next summer – but pundits like former Reds defender Jamie Carragher believes the club should pay the player what he is worth.

Salah, however, is concentrating on ensuring Jurgen Klopp’s side keep pace with Chelsea and Manchester City at the top of the table after an unbeaten start to the season.

“I’m happy as long as the team keep winning,” Salah told liverpoolfc.

“I’m trying to help always, to score goals and make the team win games – that’s the most important (thing).

“We have to give our best always to win something and I think we have the quality for that.

“We have a top team, so we have to push ourselves to the limit and try to win something. I’m sure everybody thinks the same.

“That’s what we need, just to keep in our head that we finish the season winning something.”

Klopp received a boost on Thursday with Diogo Jota joining the squad for training despite being sent home early from international duty with Portugal on Tuesday as he was not deemed fit enough to play in their World Cup qualifier.

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has donated oxygen and an ambulance to his home village in Egypt to help locals treat people suffering with COVID-19 as the country battles a second wave of infections.

The 28-year-old tested positive for the coronavirus last November.

“We have 14 oxygen cylinders inside the Mohamed Salah Charity Foundation. These help people in the village of Nagrig [Salah’s hometown], as well as those from surrounding villages,” Hassan Bakr, the head of the charity, said.

Bakr delivers oxygen cylinders direct to patients homes.

“We also have an ambulance unit built by Mohamed Salah, which has been operating since July 2020… this also helped us during the coronavirus, when transporting patients to the isolation hospitals,” he added.

Salah maintains deep connections with the village where he grew up, some 130 kilometres north of Cairo, and donates around £47,000 each year to the Mohamed Salah Charity Foundation.

Egypt’s government has confirmed 150,753 infections and 8,249 deaths since the start of the pandemic more than 10 months ago.

However, health officials say the real number is likely far higher because of the relatively low rate of coronavirus testing and the exclusion of private test results.

Mohamed Salah could return for Liverpool when they host Atalanta on Wednesday after returning a negative result from a COVID-19 test.

The Reds were without their 10-goal top scorer for the 3-0 win over Leicester on Sunday after he tested positive for the illness three times during the recent international break in Egypt.

Salah was forced to sit out the African Cup of Nations qualifying double-header with Togo after the diagnosis earlier this month.

After initially testing positive on Friday November 13, Salah was tested upon his return to the United Kingdom on Friday when he and Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny flew back to London from Hurghada International Airport.

That test has now come back negative, freeing up Salah to return to training under Premier League protocols that say a 10-day isolation period is needed after the first positive test.

Egypt’s health ministry have confirmed that Salah’s latest test was negative, theoretically enabling him to return to the fold with Jurgen Klopp’s side in midweek.

“Salah’s latest test returned a negative result,” health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed told local media.

He has received a week-long treatment in accordance with the Egyptian protocol until he fully recovered.”

With the Reds hosting Atalanta in the Champions League on Wednesday, the forward may be available for selection once again.

Manager Jurgen Klopp confirmed Salah’s return in his post-Leicester press conference.

He said: “Is Mo negative? That is what I have heard.

“Yes, it is a negative today. I think from now on he is pretty normal with all the testings.

“We have tomorrow the UEFA testing for the Champions League and he can now train with us tomorrow.

“I don’t know about the second test the day after [for the Premier League], but there could be a Premier League test already again.

“He has two tests in the next two days so yes he will be tested like all of us.”