Mohamed Salah could miss the remainder of the Africa Cup of Nations and Liverpool‘s Premier League clash with Brentford on Feb. 17 after the Egypt forward’s agent said he faces “21-28 days” out of action with a hamstring injury.
Salah, 31, is due to return to Liverpool this week to undergo intensive treatment on the injury he sustained against Ghana in an effort to boost his hopes of being fit for the semifinal stage of AFCON should Egypt progress to the final four.
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But Ramy Abbas Issa, Salah’s long-standing representative, posted on X on Monday that the Liverpool star faces a race against time to regain full fitness in order to play again for Egypt at the tournament in Ivory Coast.
“Mohammed’s injury is more serious than first thought and he will be out for 21-28 days, and not 2 games,” Issa said in a post. “His best chance at participating in the current AFCON is by undergoing intensive rehabilitation in the UK and rejoining the team as soon as he is fit.”
Sources at Liverpool told ESPN that their estimate of Salah’s likely rehabilitation period aligns with Issa’s statement.
Egypt finished group play at AFCON later in the day on Monday with a dramatic 2-2 draw against Cape Verde Islands that earned Salah’s side passage to the round of 16.
Salah has missed only two games due to injury for Liverpool since signing from AS Roma in a £34.3 million transfer in 2017.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp confirmed on Sunday that Salah will return to the club for treatment, but with the AFCON Final due to be staged on Feb. 11, the timescale of 21-28 days recovery would rule him out of the rest of the competition and also place in doubt his chances of playing six days later for the current Premier League leaders.