Mo’s future to dominate while Slot prepares for weekend’s Brighton clash

H to be a fly on the wall of the AXA Training Centre when Mohamed Salah welcomes his returning teammates back to their Kirkby base this morning.

- By PAUL GORST

After flying back to Merseyside on Wednesday afternoon, fresh from their vital 1-0 win over Inter in the Champions League on Tuesday night, the players are set to work at their £50m training facility once more to begin preparations for tomorrow afternoon’s visit of Brighton & Hove Albion.

With Arne Slot pencilled in to speak to the media at a 9am press conference, the Reds head coach is likely to have the straight bat lined up for the inevitable barrage of questions over his communication with Salah since that win at San Siro.

It is, of course, the final game for the 33-year-old before he jets off to the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt and, as revealed by the man himself at Elland Road last Saturday, his parents will be at Anfield to witness the afternoon unfold.

"I called my mum and dad and told them to come to the Brighton game," Salah revealed in his seven-and-a-half-minute pipe bomb on Saturday night.

"It doesn’t matter if I play or not. I'm going to enjoy it.

"Just going to be at Anfield and say goodbye to the fans before the African Cup, because I don’t know what is going to happen when I am there."

The ambiguity of Salah’s words have acted as cover for the Reds superstar.

"On the one hand, the talk of having to “say goodbye” can be interpreted as a player who is now bound for Morocco with the Pharaohs until at least the early days of 2026.