Jurgen Klopp makes Mo Salah admission amid Egypt call-up standoff

Jurgen Klopp has admitted the possibility of Mohamed Salah linking up with the Egypt national team later this month is out of his hands, amid reports of a feud between club and country over the Liverpool forward.

Salah returned to team training for Liverpool this week and has been included in the squad that has travelled to face Sparta Prague in the first leg of the Europa League last 16 on Thursday. Should he feature, it will be the 31-year-old's first outing since he came off the bench to score and assist in the 4-1 win over Brentford on 17 February.

Salah has not started for Liverpool since New Year's Day prior to leaving Merseyside for the Africa Cup of Nations.

While on international duty at the tournament with Egypt, Salah picked up a hamstring tear, which delayed his return until that sub appearance against Brentford. After that cameo, he then sat out the next four games, including the Carabao Cup final, after apparently re-aggravating the injury.

Though he has been deemed fit again for inclusion in first-team duties, Liverpool remain keen to exercise caution over their top scorer's return and wrote to the Egyptian FA (EFA) to request that he be left out of the upcoming March internationals with his minutes needing to be carefully managed.

That request was rejected, with Egypt insistent on assessing their captain's fitness on their own terms before making a final decision on his involvement in an Abu Dhabi training camp prior to a friendly tournament which kicks off with a game against New Zealand on 22 March.

Egypt have also said they will ‘adhere to his inclusion’ if Salah is to play any minutes for Liverpool before the international break.

Klopp on Egypt call-up: 'Nothing to do with me'

Asked about the possibility of Salah going away on international duty for a friendly so soon after his recovery from injury, Klopp told reporters: “That is nothing to do [with me] really. That will be decided in different departments. No, nothing to do with that.

“Let’s see how long he can play now. As I said, two days in team training – so, in a different situation players are not in the squad in this moment, but in our situation it makes sense.

“What can we give him? How much can we use him? We will see that.

“And then there are two games with Egypt, but it’s really not up to me or stuff like this, we are not really involved. That is discussed in other departments, let me say it like that.”

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail report that Egypt staff have so far been unable to communicate with Salah as the 'club vs country' standoff continues.

The quote Ehab El Komy of the EFA as saying: "The Egyptian national team, led by Hossam Hassan and Ibrahim Hassan, could not communicate with Mohamed Salah so far.

"There hasn't been any meeting between the technical staff of Egypt and Mohamed Salah yet."

Prior to the international break, there are potentially four fixtures Salah could be involved in. Liverpool face Sparta Prague twice in the Europa League last 16, as well as crunch ties against Manchester City in the Premier League (10 March) and Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter finals (17 March).