Mohamed Salah is in contention to make his Liverpool return against Brentford on Saturday, but boss Jurgen Klopp has hit out at suggestions the Reds caused Trent Alexander-Arnold’s latest fitness setback by rushing him back.
Salah’s last appearance for Liverpool came against Newcastle United in early January, with the Egyptian scoring twice and missing a penalty in his final club game before the Africa Cup of Nations.
He then suffered a hamstring injury in Egypt’s second game at that tournament, causing him to return to Merseyside and miss their last-16 defeat to DR Congo.
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Liverpool are entering a busy period with Premier League meetings with Brentford and Luton Town coming before next week’s EFL Cup final clash with Chelsea, and they will have their talisman available for all of those matches.
Asked for an update on Liverpool’s injury situation on Friday, Klopp said: “Mo is back in full training, that brings him automatically into contention, of course.
“Ibrahima [Konate] is not suspended anymore, Joe [Gomez] is fit again, Connor [Bradley] is back, Alisson is back, so that’s all positive.”
.@MOSALAH‘s 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣th Premier League goal for the Reds came against tomorrow’s opponents back in 2021 👏 PIC.TWITTER.COM/OCRPQJRWMD
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) FEBRUARY 16, 2024
In more negative news, it was confirmed this week that Alexander-Arnold will miss the EFL Cup final with a knee injury, having been withdrawn at half-time as Liverpool beat Burnley 3-1 last week.
Some have questioned whether the right-back was rushed back to action after missing several games with a lateral ligament injury in January, but Klopp has strongly denied those suggestions.
“Something we need to clarify a bit; I got the news that there was a discussion about whether we might have forced Trent back, because he had two setbacks,” Klopp said.
“It’s different cases, different scenarios. As long as I was here we never forced anybody back, and we never will, but we work in a high-performance area.
“We always try to catch the earliest moment [to bring them back]. Unfortunately, when we catch that moment no one speaks about it, like with [Alexis] Mac Allister, with Diogo [Jota].
“That’s the job we have to do. But the last decision is always by the player. If we always listened only to the players they would play after two weeks, then it would be a real problem.
“When the boys played, they were fit. We’ll never know if it would have happened anyway or it happened because there was something involved. It’s very, very unlucky and unfortunate.
“It says nothing about the quality of anybody. It’s nothing to do with any of that. We have to bring the boys back as soon as possible, but never sooner than they are ready.”
Next up, a trip to the capital 🔜 #BRELIV PIC.TWITTER.COM/YEXIGDBAFO
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) FEBRUARY 15, 2024
