Mohamed Salah might be away at AFCON but he still dominates the headlines at Liverpool.
The Reds have not had the best of seasons at all as they find themselves 14 points off league-leaders Arsenal, the team they play on Thursday.
One of the reasons for this is because players like Salah, who they have relied upon so heavily in previous seasons, has dropped off massively, with this leading to things getting heated.
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There remains tension after his explosive interview at the start of December, with not much being solved due to him being away on International duty.
His teammates are still feeling the effects of it, though, with Dominik Szoboszlai revealing how it had affected him personally.
One of the reasons Salah was wrong to do what he did was because he let his teammates down, with these being the people he should stick with through thick and thin.
Szoboszlai deserves credit more than most too as he has been Liverpool’s best player this season, with Salah’s comments also affecting him.
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The Hungarian does not seem too fazed, though, and in a recent interview with Sky Sports, he spoke about Salah’s influence, as well as the effect his outburst had on him.
“From day one he really tried to get me under his wing and tried to help me, as many things as I asked him,” he said.
“I was also open-minded to learn from him, and every day we became closer and closer, and we talk about a lot of stuff and trust each other even more. I probably know many things about him that maybe nobody knows.”
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“Has it made you sad to see him hurting?” he was then asked by the interviewer.
“Yeah, it was not nice to see it, but he’s professional enough to handle this situation, I never got involved,” Szoboszlai replied.
“I was there for him, but he will do it for himself, I was there for him every day when he needed whatever, but he will handle this, he has everything to deal with it.”
Dominik Szoboszlai could keep Mohamed Salah out of the team
Despite learning so much from him and really looking up to him, Szoboszlai might actually be the reason that Salah does not come back into the team.
Arne Slot used the Hungarian on the right instead of Salah a few times before he left, and has done so while he is away too, suggesting he might fancy him more in this position than the Egyptian.
Jeremie Frimpong has also come to life on the right, giving Slot another option and perhaps forcing Salah to really make a point to get his spot back.
It will be interesting to see the reaction when he does return from AFCON, but that might be a little while away as Egypt are going strong and find themselves in the quarter-finals.
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