Mohamed Salah gets World Cup fitness boost amid transfer speculation

There are mixed emotions for fans of Mohamed Salah after a day of statements and speculation.

For Egyptians there was reassuring news from their Football Association that the Liverpool forward should be fit to participate in at least some of the impending World Cup.

The entire country has been on tenterhooks since Salah was brought tumbling to earth by Sergio Ramos during Liverpool’s Champions League defeat to Real Madrid on Saturday.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Initial statements from the Reds hinted that the ligament damage to his left shoulder would rule him out of football’s showpiece tournament. However, the player himself said he was optimistic he would be fit in time to face Uruguay on 15 June and it appears his confidence isn’t entirely misplaced.

Egypt’s national team doctor has assessed Salah in the presence of Egyptian FA president Hany Abu Rida, and his conclusions prompted the FA to declare that the star striker was mending well.

“After the meeting of Abu Rida and the doctor of the national team in Spain today, the Football Association reaffirms Salah in the World Cup, God willing, will not exceed the absence of three weeks,” they tweeted.

Salah, 25, scored the last-gasp penalty in Egypt’s final qualification game to secure their place in the World Cup for the first time since 1990, and if they’re to have any chance of progressing from a pool that also includes Russia and Saudi Arabia they will need Salah to be firing on all cylinders.

But if Egypt had reason to cheer, for Liverpool supporters there was alarming news from Spain with a claim that Salah has “ordered” his agent to organise his transfer from Anfield this summer.

In reporting the news, the Daily Star says that Real Madrid, Manchester United and Manchester City “are the three clubs that will fight for his signature”.

Real Madrid are said to be the favourites to land the Egyptian king with the European champions ready to sell both Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale in order to fund what is expected to be a world-record transfer.