Liverpool and Manchester City could face an uncomfortable confrontation with Egypt over the releases of Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), reports suggest.
AFCON disrupts the domestic calendar every two years, whisking the continent’s best players away for the best part of a month depending on a nation’s performance at the tournament. The 2025 edition, being staged in Morocco, gets underway on Dec. 21 with the final scheduled to take place a month later on Jan. 18, 2026.
Salah and Marmoush are among the highest-profile players who could be gone for a full month—Egypt are traditionally one of the pre-tournament favourites and are expected to do well again—and their departures will be sorely felt by Liverpool and City, who must balance a large volume of Premier League games in a condensed period of time.
Although clubs have no issue releasing players for the tournament itself, The Telegraph report that things could get a little prickly for Liverpool and City as Egypt ideally want to fly Salah and Marmoush out for a friendly against Nigeria in Cairo on Dec. 14.
Guardiola: I Don’t Think About AFCON Departures
City are understood to be keen on keeping Marmoush for the Premier League clash with Crystal Palace which is due to be played on the same day. There's no word on Liverpool’s current Salah stance, but the Reds—who have lost six of their last seven games in all competitions and need their best players to turn things around—do play Brighton & Hove Albion 24 hours earlier and Salah would not have enough time to play, travel and then recover to feature for Egypt.
“Always I try to solve the problem when the problem is in front of me. Right now I don’t think [about it],” Pep Guardiola said in his news conference of the potential issue, knowing he’ll also lose Rayan Aït-Nouri to Algeria duty.
“I have to use them for Sunday and next Wednesday and next Sunday before the international break. When it is going to happen they cannot be here and we will see the situation and take the decisions.”
If Marmoush departs after City’s game with Palace as the former eight-time Premier League winners hope he will, the 26-year-old could miss up to eight games if Egypt reach the final. For Liverpool, it’s a game less, owing to their striking Carabao Cup fourth round exit to the aforementioned Palace.
The Games Mohamed Salah, Omar Marmoush Could Miss
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Collision Course’—Liverpool, Man City Facing Mohamed Salah, Omar Marmoush Row.
