Liverpool doesn’t permit Salah to play in Olympic Games

The clubs aren’t intending to let the players join their national teams for the men's Olympic football tournament because the competition is not on the FIFA match calendar, and the chairman of Egypt’s FA has talked about the matter, saying that they respect the club’s decision about

Salah’s

participation in the tournament.

"We started talking with them a long time ago because Salah wanted to play the Olympic Games, but Liverpool were unclear,"

Ahmed Megahed told BBC Sport

Africa.

"I knew in June they would not let him go. Anyway we respect their decision."

Their head coach Shawky Gharib has tried to convince the

too, but he says that despite the player’s interest in helping his national team in Tokyo, the club has refused to let him go.

"I tried many, many times with Liverpool, as did the Egypt FA, to persuade them to let Salah be a part of the Olympic team but they refused completely,"

Gharib explained

.

"Mohamed wanted to play the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. He talked with me, I did my best to bring him. Salah was a key player in my Olympic plans. But the club refused - we need to move on."

The other player who was not allowed to leave the club for national duty was Galatasaray’s Mostafa Mohamed, who was Gharib’s main striker, and his absence can hurt the team, although the coach says that they shouldn’t think about what they have lost.

"Mostafa Mohamed was going to be the main striker in my team, but the same happened with his club,"

Gharib explained

.

"They refused to let him go as they will play important matches - I cannot do anything. I even wanted to bring Trezeguet but he picked up an injury with Villa.

"Now we need to stop thinking about something that won't be happening and focus on our campaign."

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