Liverpool and Manchester City could face an uncomfortable confrontation with Egypt over the releases of Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), reports suggest.
AFCON disrupts the domestic calendar every two years, whisking the continent’s best players away for the best part of a month depending on a nation’s performance at the tournament. The 2025 edition, being staged in Morocco, gets underway on Dec. 21 with the final scheduled to take place a month later on Jan. 18, 2026.
Salah and Marmoush are among the highest-profile players who could be gone for a full month—Egypt are traditionally one of the pre-tournament favourites and are expected to do well again—and their departures will be sorely felt by Liverpool and City, who must balance a large volume of Premier League games in a condensed period of time.
Although clubs have no issue releasing players for the tournament itself, report that things could get a little prickly for Liverpool and City as Egypt ideally want to fly Salah and Marmoush out for a friendly against Nigeria in Cairo on Dec. 14.
