Virgil van Dijk revealed he has told Mohamed Salah he wants the winger to stay at Liverpool but admitted he is not sure if he will.
Salah returned to the Liverpool team as a substitute in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Brighton after manager Arne Slot and the club hierarchy decided not to take him to Italy for the Champions League victory over Inter Milan following an interview when the Egyptian made a series of accusations.
Slot brought him back following talks on Friday but Salah had brought his own future into doubt as he claimed he was thrown under the bus and made a scapegoat.
Saudi Pro-League clubs are believed to be interested in the 33-year-old, who has not started any of Liverpool’s last five matches, but Van Dijk is keen to keep him at Anfield and has let Salah know what he thinks.
“Of course I’ve told him I want him to stay,” said the Liverpool captain. “Of course I speak to him. I speak about everything with him.”
Salah will depart now for the African Cup of Nations and Van Dijk has vowed to remain in contact with him.
“He is one of the leaders,” he added. “I would love to have him around because he is one of the leaders. But obviously the fact is he is going to AFCON. I wish him absolutely all the best. We will be in contact over the next days and weeks, we always are.”
Van Dijk said Salah has impressed in training this week as well as during his appearance against Brighton, when he got the assist for Hugo Ekitike’s second goal.
“Mo reacted perfectly fine,” he said. “He was good against Brighton. He was good Sunday and Monday when we were training. He didn’t travel but trained on Friday together and he was perfectly fine too. It is all about how the team reacts but in my eyes and what I see and speaking to the guys, everyone handled it perfectly well.
“I think we showed this week we are absolutely united and we go forward as one. Mo goes to the Africa Cup of Nations. We hope he will be successful there and all hope he comes back and is important for us for the rest of the season. But on the other side of it, we all know football and have no idea what will happen. I hope he stays as he is one of my leaders, a very important player which you saw with another assist. He is still important for the football club but there are more parties to this situation.”
Van Dijk also praised manager Arne Slot for the way he has reacted. “I think he’s handled the situation very well,” said his fellow Dutchman. “Calm in his own way. It is a very tricky situation. There is a lot of noise and pressure from the outside world, obviously and rightly so because we’ve not been up or close to the standard of last season but we are human beings and everyone reacts in a different way. But personally looking at it and the conversations we’ve had on a daily basis, I think he’s handled it very well.”
