Klopp responds to Mohamed Salah's criticism and apologizes to the Egyptian national team.
The manager of Liverpool's first football team, Jurgen Klopp, continues to defend Mohamed Salah following criticisms he faced after leaving the Egyptian national team. Salah returned to Liverpool to receive treatment for the injury he sustained in the match against Ghana in the second round of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
The player will not participate in upcoming matches unless he recovers, and it is expected that this will happen before the final match. Consequently, everyone will await both Egypt's ability to qualify for that stage and Mohamed Salah's recovery.
Klopp spoke again in his press conference just now before the match against Norwich City in the English FA Cup, saying, "Criticism of Mohamed Salah? That's the world we live in now."
He continued, "Most people in Egypt understand the situation. We have the same goal with his national team, for Mohamed Salah to return as soon as possible."
He added, "If a player gets injured, we do our utmost to help him return. If Egypt continues in the tournament and Mohamed Salah recovers, he will return to Ivory Coast. Let's not forget we also need him at Liverpool in our long season."
Regarding Egypt's dilemma due to the early disclosure of Mohamed Salah's return, Klopp stated, "I'm sorry, it wasn't intentional. I wasn't sure of the situation at that moment."
Klopp on Mohamed Salah's crisis with the Egyptian national team: "No Egyptian has more loyalty to his country... and there is no debate about that."
The German coach, Jurgen Klopp, defended his Egyptian player Mohamed Salah and wasn't pleased with the question regarding the player's return from the Africa Cup of Nations. Salah sustained an injury while playing for the Egyptian national team in the ongoing tournament in Ivory Coast and returned to England for treatment.
After Liverpool's qualification for the Carabao Cup final against Fulham, a journalist from beIN Sports asked Klopp about the feeling that Mohamed Salah could put his club first.
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Klopp responded, saying, "I can't be part of that discussion, Egypt and Liverpool have exactly the same interests, and we want Mohamed Salah to be ready as soon as possible."
He added, "If he stays here and can't get proper treatment, it will delay everything, especially for Egypt if they qualify for the final of the tournament."
Klopp continued, "So, we brought him here not because we want to take him away from Egypt, but because we want to provide the best medical treatment for him, that's all we want."
He emphasized, "Everything is agreed upon and it's clear, if Egypt qualifies for the final and Mohamed Salah is ready, he will return 100%. He wants that, and we want that, we don't plan anything with him about doing certain things here or there."
Klopp was told that he might have pressured Salah to return by announcing that he would come back for treatment before an agreement was reached on that.
Klopp responded, "We are completely honest, and if I said something too early, what I said wasn't announced by me. I said I think it's agreed upon, that's what I heard. I have a lot of things to do, and a lot of things happen around me."
He concluded, "Some people make something out of it, and if someone doubts Mohamed Salah's loyalty, he should ask himself if his loyalty is genuine, because Mohamed Salah is certainly the most loyal Egyptian I've ever met in my life."