Arne Slot can give Mohamed Salah exactly what he wants now as Liverpool gets timely reminder

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Mohamed Salah sent Liverpool a timely reminder back to Liverpool about his future, and Arne Slot could be in a position to give him exactly what he wants when he returns from AFCON

Mohamed Salah sent a timely reminder to Liverpool at the Africa Cup of Nations(Image: Getty Images)

It was inevitable, wasn’t it? With Egypt fighting to try and find a winner late on against Zimbabwe, you just knew Mohamed Salah would have his say.

The Liverpool talisman sent the timeliest of reminders back to Anfield as he spared his country’s blushes in their opening Africa Cup of Nations encounter on Monday. Dropping points against a side making just their sixth appearance at the tournament would have been quite the embarrassment for the continent’s most successful nation, but Salah’s knack for coming up with clutch moments isn’t just reserved for his club.

Granted, those moments have been a little more sparing for the Reds this season, but when you need a goal, there aren’t many players you’d want to rely on more than Salah.

And that quality could be more important than ever for Liverpool right now. Arne Slot’s side is facing a battle just to get into the top four of the Premier League this season, and they look like they’ll have to do it without the man brought in to set them aside from their rivals.

Alexander Isak’s broken leg comes at a bad time for the Reds. The schedule is about to get busier, and the options in attack were already being stretched before Micky van de Ven’s ill-timed challenge.

As much as Slot might be confident that Isak will return before the end of the campaign, we’ve already seen why we’ll likely have to wait until next season now to see the former Newcastle man at his best. In fact, Slot practically spelled it out himself as he detailed the struggles Isak went through after missing pre-season.

Even if Alexander Isak returns before the end of the season, we won't see the best of him until at least next season(Image: Getty Images)

Liverpool will therefore need all the help it can get during the second half of the season, and Salah’s return from AFCON - whenever that is - now looks vital.

For all the talk of the 33-year-old having potentially played his final game for the club, the Reds arguably need him now more than ever - if nothing else, just to lessen the burden on Hugo Ekitike up front.

And that should make it easier for Slot to convince Salah to stay at Anfield. We all know he doesn’t take kindly to being left on the bench, but the Liverpool boss has little choice but to play him once he’s back.

“I think it’s pretty certain now that Mo Salah will stay when he comes back from AFCON,” Jamie Carragher, perhaps Salah’s most vocal critic during the fallout from his outburst earlier this month, said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football. “We wanted that to happen.”

That’s not to say Slot should be bending over backwards to give in to any demands that Salah should be guaranteed to be starting every game. If he feels his team is better off without last year’s Golden Boot winner, then that should be his decision.

But given the current state of Liverpool’s squad, and what’s on the line during the second half of the season, the Reds can’t afford to let a player like that go next month. Already, various outlets (such as TalkSPORT) are suggesting Salah will stay put beyond January, and rightly so.