Mohamed Salah will return to Liverpool with one question over future already answered

Mohamed Salah is nearing the end of his AFCON tournament – but what is next for him at Liverpool?

In some ways, Mohamed Salah’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign for Egypt could be viewed as the worst possible outcome for Liverpool.

Salah, who is now gearing up for his final fixture of the tournament against Nigeria on Saturday, can ‘only’ finish third behind finalists Senegal and Morocco, who will contest the showpiece on Sunday evening.

Despite the 33-year-old not making it to the final itself, however, the Reds forward will still participate in no fewer games than the maximum of six matches, with a third-place play-off to be hosted in the Stade Mohamed V, in Casablanca. Play it again, Mo indeed.

But rather than seeing their player go all the way to secure one of the few dreams he has yet to realise in football before returning to Merseyside with renewed vigour, Salah is once more gearing to return from AFCON having suffered only heartache.

Salah has scored four times so far, with only Brahim Diaz, of Morocco, registering more than the Liverpool marksman and the hope is that he can return to Merseyside in more gentile circumstances than when he left, which came a week after a sensational and extraordinary outburst that left his entire future in the balance.

If the legendary winger playing virtually every minute possible was not an ideal scenario for Arne Slot, the fact that the most recent Golden Boot winner in the Premier League has been among the goals will be heartening and he will return to a Reds side who have generally been labouring in the final third since his flight out to Morocco following the 2-1 win over Brighton last month.

Draws with the likes of Leeds United, Fulham and Arsenal could have been different had Slot had the Egyptian to call on, even if the head coach will, with some justification, point to an 11-game unbeaten sequence for why he was right to take Salah out of the squad in early December on the back of nine defeats in 12.

The timing of AFCON allowed everyone at Liverpool to kick the can down the road at the time and questions over Salah have stopped in recent weeks, even if the remarkable frustrations aired at Elland Road on December 6 have continued to quietly linger, ready to be picked up at a later stage.

That stage is now approaching for Slot, who is expected to be asked about when the Egyptian will be available once more when he previews Saturday’s visit from Burnley on Friday morning. There is the prospect of a comeback when the Reds visit Marseille in the Champions League next Wednesday.

Curtis Jones revealed last month that Salah had apologised to his team-mates privately for the furore over his outburst at Leeds and while clear-the-air talks were held behind the scenes with Slot, which paved the way for the attacker to be reintroduced to the squad for the defeat of Brighton, that accord remains somewhat of an uneasy one, with both player and coach feeling their stance was justified.

What happens next will be fascinating and both will have evidence to support their respective opinions. Liverpool, since Slot decided to tighten up and go back to basics, have become harder to beat and more difficult to play through. The unbeaten sequence, that dates back to the end of November, now stands at 11 games ahead of a visit from a side who are kept off the bottom only by a Wolves team with just seven points.

During that time, Liverpool have closed in on qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League, have moved into the top four and now have a fourth-round FA Cup tie at home to Brighton to look forward to.

While doing all that, however, Salah may be able to highlight a lack of attacking intent at times from Slot’s Reds. Just one shot on target in the second half of the goalless draw with Leeds on New Year’s Day – a speculative effort from Dominik Szoboszlai – was followed up by a first half without one in the 2-2 draw with Fulham.

The goalless affair against Arsenal was widely viewed in a more positive light, given their imperious home record and status as league leaders, but it was the first in 600 games – dating back to 2010 – that Liverpool failed to have a shot on target in a match. That is more than ammunition for Salah to claim he has been missed.

The third highest goalscorer of all time at Anfield may have a point but a professional performance at home to a troubled Clarets side this weekend will ensure he returns to a club that is on much more stable ground now.

What does at least appear like a safe bet is that Salah will remain a Liverpool player until the end of the season now. Speculation over his future ramped up in the wake of his Leeds broadside but Saudi Arabian interest, however intense at this stage, will be shunned as the Reds keep all hands on deck for the top-four push.