Mohamed Salah back with Liverpool after AFCON duty ahead of Marseille trip

Mohamed Salah has returned to Liverpool after Africa Cup of Nations duty with Egypt and will be assessed before the squad flies to Marseille for Wednesday’s Champions League match.

Press Association understands the forward is back on Merseyside a month after he departed, with his future seemingly in doubt after becoming embroiled in a dispute with head coach Arne Slot.

After being left out of the side for three matches, he conducted an explosive interview after the chaotic draw at Leeds in which he accused the club of throwing him “under the bus” after results took a dive.

He also suggested he had no relationship with Slot and questioned whether he would remain at the club – comments which resulted in him being left out of the squad which travelled to Inter Milan in the Champions League.

Salah returned to the squad for the home game against Brighton and was an early first-half substitute for Joe Gomez, but he left for Morocco with his future still under a cloud.

Liverpool are scheduled to train on Tuesday lunchtime before heading to France and Salah, who played on Saturday as Egypt lost the third-place play-off, could rejoin his team-mates for that.

Close friend Dominik Szoboszlai was in daily contact with Salah while he was away but declined to offer any insight into the forward’s mindset.

“We speak about everything (but) that’s between me and him,” the midfielder said. “He will come back and then we just keep on going.

A lifeline for Barnsley