Mohamed Salah will not be a part of the Egypt squad for the FIFA World Cup 2021 qualifiers as team Liverpool has refused to release their forward. The decision has been taken owing to COVID-19 restrictions. Since Egypt is on Britain's red list, Salah will be forced a 10-day long quarantine period upon his return to Liverpool. If one may recall, Salah had contacted the coronavirus while he was travelling to Cairo in November 2020. Back then he had gone to attend his brother's wedding and was also set to feature in the national team for the match against Togo. With this, England Football Association released a statement and expressed an apology for not releasing Salah. Mohamed Salah Spotted Dancing at Brother’s Wedding Days Before Testing COVID-19 Positive, Fans Label Liverpool Star ‘Irresponsible’ (Watch Video).

The EFA also revealed that they wrote to Egypt Football Association and explained their reasons for not releasing Salah for the World Cup Qualifiers.  “The English club’s letter referred to the precautionary measures applied in England to confront the outbreak of coronavirus, which forces returnees from some countries to compulsory health isolation for a period of 10 days upon their return to England," read the statement by EFA. The English club also hoped that the Egyptian Football Association would understand where they are coming from.

Egypt is all set to play Angola in Cairo on September 1, 2021. Post this the team will also be travelling to face Gabon four days later in Franceville. Salah has been the Golden Boot winner twice and surely the team would be missing out on the services of Liverpool forward.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 24, 2021 04:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).