Mohamed Salah injury ‘more serious than first thought’

Liverpool’s talisman is set to be out for up to four weeks and should miss Premier League clashes against Chelsea and Arsenal

Mohamed Salah’s hamstring injury is worse than was initially thought and could keep him out for four weeks, his agent has said.

It means Liverpool’s hopes of getting their top scorer back for their double header against Chelsea and Arsenal next week are over and could result in him missing their next six games.

Salah’s Africa Cup of Nations is probably over unless Egypt, who needed to avoid defeat against Cape Verde on Monday to prevent a group-stage exit, can survive without their captain until the final on 11 February and he makes a swift recovery.

The 31-year-old was injured in their 2-2 draw against Ghana on Thursday and had only been ruled out of his country’s next two games.

But Salah’s agent Ramy Abbas wrote on Twitter: “Mohammed’s injury is more serious than first thought and he will be out for 21-28 days, and not 2 games. His best chance at participating in the current AFCON is by undergoing intensive rehabilitation in the uk and rejoining the team as soon as he is fit.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said on Sunday that Salah would return to England for treatment and could potentially go back to Africa if he recovered and Egypt progressed.

The German said: “However long he’s out, probably everybody sees it like this, it makes sense that he’s doing the rehab with us or with our people. If that’s written in stone already, I don’t know.

“I would say if Egypt qualifies for the final, if he’s fit before the final, then probably yes [he would go back to play]. Why not? That’s clear.”

Liverpool have won all three games since Salah left for the Cup of Nations with fellow forwards Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota each scoring twice at Bournemouth. However, Salah has scored 18 goals and got nine assists in 27 appearances in all competitions for the Merseyside club this season.