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Mohamed Salah is reportedly set to travel to Saudi Arabia this week amid continued speculation about his Liverpool future.
Salah returned to the fold in the weekend win over Brighton and was called upon earlier than planned to replace the injured Joe Gomez. He was given a rousing reception from the Liverpool crowd and was largely impressive, setting up Hugo Ekitike for his second goal of the game.
But there remains doubts about his future following his outburst at Arne Slot after the game at Leeds. During that interview, Salah suggested the Brighton game may be his last for the club as he jets off to AFCON, and fueled speculation further when he waved to the Kop at the end of the game.
He will definitely be departing for a matter of weeks for the tournament with Egypt and it remains to be seen if Saudi Pro League clubs will formally reignite their interest in the January window.
According to Saudi broadcaster Al-Riyadiya (via WinWin), Salah will travel to Jeddah before he links up with his international colleagues in Morocco.
It is stated that the main reason for the trip will be to perform the pilgrimage of Umrah and may also link up with the Saudi Ministry of Tourism.
However, links to a blockbuster January transfer remain and it was reported over the weekend that Saudi clubs believe they would be able to land him for $134M (£100m) despite Liverpool's stance that he will stay put.
Slot suggested after the win over Brighton that the issue had been dealt with and he expected Salah to return to Merseyside after the tournament.
"He wasn't the only player who walked around the pitch thanking the fans because the fans deserved a thank you from us," Slot said.
"Our players worked incredibly hard to keep a clean sheet and for the first time in weeks, maybe months, we had a little bit of luck.
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"What has been said between the two of us in that conversation stays between us. What you see is what you get to know, that he was in the squad and my first substitution.
"Mo is going to go the AFCON now. I hope he is going to do very well and in the meantime we have to play here without him with not that many players available."
Egypt is due to play a warm-up friendly against Nigeria on Tuesday with Salah given extra time to join up with the squad. The AFCON group stage then begins against Zimbabwe on December 22 before games against South Africa and Angola.
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