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Virgil van Dijk has praised Mohamed Salah’s response following his outburst against Liverpool, while also lauding Arne Slot’s handling of the situation.
Salah made his return to the Reds’ squad for the 2-0 win over Brighton on Saturday, having been left out of the trip to Inter Milan just a few days’ earlier following his extraordinary interview at Leeds, in which he accused Liverpool of throwing him “under the bus”.
After showdown talks with Slot on Friday though, Salah was restored to the squad, having been named on the bench before coming on as a first-half substitution for the injured Joe Gomez.
What the future holds for Salah is still unknown though, with the winger now heading off to the Africa Cup of Nations and potentially missing Liverpool’s next eight games. Discussions will continue between the club and his representatives while he’s away in Morocco after Salah suggested that the Brighton game could be his final appearance for the Reds.
Van Dijk hopes that is not the case, with the Liverpool captain praising both Salah and Slot for their responses following the fallout.
"I think he's [Salah] handled the situation very well," Van Dijk said. "Calm, in his own way.
"It's a very tricky situation, there's a lot of noise and pressure from the outside world and rightly so because we have not been close to the standard that we showed last season.
"But we are all human beings and everyone reacts in a certain way and can deal with situations in a certain way.
"But I think personally looking at it and the conversations we both had on a daily basis, I think he handled it very well. We just have to keep going.
"He's obviously at a club that is a very together club and that's how it's been before our time at the club and it's something we have to keep going.
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"We go through the good times together as a team, as a club, as a fanbase, and sometimes when difficult moments arise we also have to stick together.
"I think this moment of time is a very good moment to see how everyone responds to that. I think the manager did perfectly so far."
Liverpool is certain to be without Salah over the next few games now as he makes his way to AFCON. The tournament gets underway on December 21 and runs until January 18, by which time we may know more about his future plans.
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