Virgil van Dijk has urged Mohamed Salah to remain at Liverpool. However, the Reds skipper concedes he is uncertain about what lies ahead for the Egypt star following the Africa Cup of Nations.
Salah was named on the substitutes' bench for three consecutive matches before Tuesday evening's 1-0 Champions League victory at Inter Milan, where he was left behind on Merseyside after voicing his frustrations following the 3-3 draw with Leeds at Elland Road, during which he remained an unused substitute.
In an extraordinary post-match interview, the 33-year-old stated he had been "thrown under the bus" by the club and alleged his relationship with head coach Arne Slot had deteriorated.
However, following showdown talks with Slot on Friday at the club's AXA Training Centre, Salah was restored to the squad that defeated Brighton 2-0 at Anfield. He featured for most of the match after coming on for the injured Joe Gomez in the opening period.
Slot then confirmed that he wants Salah to remain at Anfield after he returns from AFCON.
Following the fixture, Van Dijk confirmed he has expressed his wish to see his colleague stay at the club past the January transfer window. Nevertheless, the Liverpool skipper remains in the dark about how matters will unfold.
"Of course I've told him I want him to stay," Van Dijk said. "The rest I'm not going to tell you. I would love to have him around because he is one of the leaders, but the matter of fact is that he is going to AFCON.
"I wish him absolutely all the best, we will be in contact over the next days [or] weeks because we always are and then let's see. Why did it happen? That's someone else you have to ask the question.
"Did this week affect the players? No. Did you see the performances? The reality of the situation is that it is bringing so much noise. Me, as a captain, I have to deal with how the boys react to it and I think the boys reacted perfectly fine.
"Mo reacted, in the end, perfectly fine as well. He was good today, he was good Sunday and Monday when we trained, he didn't travel [to Milan] and we trained yesterday together and he was perfectly fine too.
"It's all about how the team reacts and in my eyes and what I see and how I speak to the guys, I think everyone handled it perfectly well."
Van Dijk continued: "First of all it's not about me, it's about the rest of the team. I speak to Mo, I speak to almost all the players, I hear, observe, and that's the most important thing.
"If you feel it could be a problem within the squad and it could affect the performances then you have a different story but I think we showed this week that we are absolutely united and we go forward as one.
"Mo is going to the Africa Cup of Nations and we all hope he is going to be absolutely successful there and we all hope that he's coming back and being important for us for the rest of the season.
"But on the other side of it we all know football and we have no idea what's going to happen.
"I hope he stays because he's one of my leaders, he is very important and still - as you see today with another assist - important for the football club. But there's more parties to this situation."
Liverpool now have a clear week ahead to gear up for their Premier League face-off against Tottenham on Saturday (5.30pm kick-off).