Mohamed Salah ‘ready’ to make Liverpool return after Africa Cup of Nations heartbreak

The Liverpool forward flew back from Cameroon following the penalty shootout defeat to Senegal on Sunday night, but Sadio Mane has yet to return as he celebrates his country’s victory

Mohamed Salah has returned to Liverpool training (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Mohamed Salah has declared himself “ready” to make a return for Liverpool and could be in contention to face Leicester on Thursday, Jurgen Klopp has revealed.

Salah’s Egypt were defeated by Senegal on penalties in the Africa Cup of Nations final on Sunday, with his Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane scoring the winning spot-kick.

Salah returned to training on Tuesday and will be assessed by the club’s medical staff before a decision is made on whether he features at Anfield in the Premier League fixture,

Mane has been ruled out after he was allowed to travel to Senegal to celebrate the country’s first Africa Cup of Nations title and is yet to return to England.

“Mo is now back, I spoke already to him. He is very disappointed of course, but looking forward to all the things coming up here now,” Klopp told Liverpool’s website. “I spoke to him and pretty much the first thing Mo told me was: ‘I’m ready.’

“He is an experienced player, he is a physical monster, to be honest, so we have to see. He will obviously have a little recovery session today and we will see how he feels tomorrow and from there we go.

“The proper plan we don’t have, play him as often and as long as possible is probably the plan, but we will not rush it. But if he is fine we will not leave him out for the wrong reasons as well, so let’s see.”

Klopp said Mane is set to travel back to Liverpool on Wednesday. “It means the world to him, it means the world to his people, it means the world to Senegal and we respect that a lot and we would never consider to have called back him from there or whatever,” Klopp said.

“Let them do what they do in the moment because they deserve it. They’ve had an incredibly intense time, so when he is back we will talk to him and we will see how we can use him.”

After hosting Leicester on Thursday, Liverpool face Burnley in the Premier League on Sunday. Klopp’s side are nine points behind leaders Manchester City in the table but have a game in hand on Pep Guardiola’s team.