Players still communicating with Salah but insist they are fully behind the manager
Dominik Szoboszlai has said Liverpool players will not interfere in the dispute between Mohamed Salah and the club.
Salah was left out of Arne Slot’s squad for Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League, days after giving an incendiary interview for being benched for three games.
He is also a doubt for Saturday’s match against Brighton and is scheduled to join Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations by Monday.
Szoboszlai has been picked to replace Salah on the right-hand side over the past four games, and at the San Siro he took over the Egyptian’s penalty duties and converted from the spot for the decisive goal.
The midfielder is close to the 33-year-old but said he and the rest of the players won’t influence what happens next.
“I’m very close with him,” Szoboszlai said. “It’s nothing to do with the players. It’s him and his own choice with what he is doing with his own life and his own career.”
Asked whether he hoped Salah would stay, he added: “It’s not our decision as players. I love him as a human being, as a friend of mine. As a player he has done so much for this club. It’s going to be the club’s and his decision.”
Liverpool players have largely avoided commenting on Salah’s absence. Captain Virgil van Dijk said he has been communicating with Salah but called for his teammates to focus on the football.
“We speak and those types of things will stay indoors as they should, but we as a team and group of players have to brace ourselves and be against the outside noise,” Van Dijk said. “It’s a collective difficult situation.”
Curtis Jones said the team were fully behind Slot.
“We always are, we always are,” Jones said. “He is human at the end of the day. If we get beat in games it affects him. It affects us all too the same way it affects fans.
“He is a positive man, he always makes a change. The style of play has changed a bit. He is as hungry as ever, exactly the same with us. He is there with us and we are there with him as well.”
