Premier League club Liverpool has refused to release striker Mohamed Salah for Egypt's 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers, the Egypt Football Association has confirmed.
Egypt is slated to play the qualifiers in September, but star striker Salah would not be featuring in them as the Reds have refused to release him.
"The Egyptian Football Association continues its continuous contacts regarding the task of international players joining their national teams to participate in the World Cup qualifiers, which requires exempting them from travel restrictions imposed on them in the countries in which they play due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Egyptian Football Association has received a letter from Liverpool FC apologising for the unavailability of its player, Mohamed Salah, to join the national team in its next camp, which includes facing Angola in Cairo and Gabon in Franceville during the first and second rounds of the African continent's qualifiers for the World Cup," the Association said in an official statement.
"The English club's letter referred to the precautionary measures applied in England to confront the outbreak of coronavirus in the world, which puts returnees from some countries in compulsory health isolation for a period of ten days upon their return to England," it added.
In the letter, the English club also expressed its hope that the Egyptian Federation would understand "that it was forced to do so, in the face of the player being subjected to quarantine for this period and being affected by this physically, as well as the uncertainty of the conditions determined by English authorities".
"It is noteworthy that Liverpool FC took the same position with a number of its foreign players," the letter said.
Liverpool has won its opening two matches of the ongoing Premier League 2021-22 season. The Reds are at the second spot with six points from two games.Jurgen Klopp's side will next take on Chelsea on September 28.
( With inputs from ANI )
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