Mohamed Salah will not be returning to Liverpool as a champion of Africa after Egypt crashed out in the semi-finals of the Cup of Nations on Wednesday.
Having been the subject of such intense debate prior to his departure for Morocco, Salah cut a lower profile during his time away, refusing to be drawn further on his future at Anfield.
Nevertheless, there is still a conversation to be had over whether the 33-year-old has played his last game for Liverpool, with the next two weeks set to provide an answer.
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In the meantime, Salah looked to have got back in the groove for Egypt, scoring four goals in six appearances at AFCON.
According to former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson, however, this does not paint a picture of the Liverpool legend‘s overall level. Previewing the Reds’ clash with Burnley on Saturday, Merson claims that Salah displayed a continued decline while playing for his country.
Paul Merson highlights worrying Mohamed Salah issue
For a while it had looked as though Salah may be about to put Egypt on his back and carry them to a first AFCON title in years.
After a tricky period at Liverpool, the veteran winger was back amongst the goals and seemed to have had vigour returned to his game.
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Writing for Sportskeeda, though, Merson claims that this is not the case. According to the pundit, Salah continued to make life easy for his opposition full-back more often than not.
“The real fun starts again when Mohamed Salah returns from the AFCON!” Merson said. “Does he go straight back into the XI? If I’m being honest, I don’t think Salah was very good at the AFCON. Them days where he gets goals out of nothing are gone!
“I don’t think Salah even gave his opponents’ full-back a hard time at the AFCON. I just don’t see him being that guy anymore. So it will be interesting to see if Liverpool feel the same way.”
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Salah has not looked much of a threat all season long at Liverpool, with opposing full-backs getting the better of him all too easily. This has been a feature of his play, and it is a key area which has to be addressed.
Salah likely to return to Liverpool XI
As Salah prepared to leave for AFCON in December the noise around his future at Liverpool had grown to unbearable levels.
Arne Slot did well to diffuse the situation by bringing the Egyptian off the bench in the win over Brighton at Anfield, and that did put a temporary end to all speculation. But things are about to get loud again.
For Slot, it may work out well that he really does not have much choice but to bring Salah back into his starting XI at the nearest opportunity.
That is likely to come away at Marseille on Wednesday, with Liverpool’s current lack of attackers meaning their No. 11 should be playing.
If Salah can pick his form back up, then questions will begin to die down. But should he continue the worrying form Merson is alluding to, they will rise up all over again. Crucial weeks ahead for Salah and Liverpool.
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