Egypt were beaten by Senegal in Wednesday night's semi-final, with Salah's former Liverpool colleague Sadio Mane getting the better of him once more. The 33-year-old will miss Sunday's final in Morocco but has one remaining fixture before flying back to England. This means he will be absent for Liverpool's Premier League encounter with Burnley on Saturday afternoon, taking his total number of missed matches since departing for AFCON to seven.
In his press conference on Friday, Arne Slot revealed he has been in touch with Salah, who may be involved in Wednesday evening's trip to Marseille.
"First of all, he plays a big game for Egypt on Saturday and then he comes back, I am happy he comes back," said the Liverpool boss.
"Mo has been so important for this club and me, so I am happy he is back and even if I had 15 attackers, I would be happy to see Mo back but that is not our situation. Happy to have him back after an important game tomorrow."
When pressed on the exact timing of his return, Slot continued: "Next week, we're in talks with him. First of all, he needs to have an important game on Saturday. Champions League? We are talking together about it now."
Salah departed for the Africa Cup of Nations amid considerable scrutiny following a rocky spell. The Egyptian forward publicly criticised Slot, claiming the manager had undermined him by leaving him out of the side, though the pair subsequently cleared the air with discussions.
He then provided an assist in Liverpool's victory against Brighton before heading off on international duty.
Since then, matters have settled with the Reds enjoying an 11-match unbeaten run across all competitions following their 4-1 loss to PSV Eindhoven on November 26.
Liverpool currently occupy fourth spot in the Premier League table heading into this weekend's fixtures, yet Slot continues to demand improvement from his squad.
"The last 11 games, we have hardly conceded chances, but in the period before that we created lots but conceded more chances," he said.
"And they were more open games where maybe people look back and want those now but the results weren't as we wanted them to be.
"We have to find that balance and we will, the players are growing, they find belief and getting fitter. We are waiting for a moment when we can kickstart our season even more than we have."