Mohamed Salah takes to Facebook as row with Egyptian FA escalates

Sport360 staff 01:24 28/08/2018
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  • Mohamed Salah addressed fans directly on Facebook

    A war of words broke out on Monday between Egypt star Mohamed Salah and his country’s football authorities, putting in doubt his continuing involvement with the Pharaohs.

    Salah, 26, and the Egyptian Football Association have previously been at loggerheads due to a disagreement over image rights.

    Now the conflict has flared up again after the striker and his lawyer accused the FA of failing to respond to a list of requests dealing with the player’s treatment.

    Salah’s lawyer Ramy Abbas Issa said the demands involved the player’s “well-being whilst with the national team, and assurances that the image rights violations wouldn’t happen again”.

    In an angry rebuttal the football federation said Monday that it would not accept the requests, blasting some as “illogical” and insisting it would not “favour one player over another”.

    Salah hit back with a pair of Facebook videos, insisting he was asking for better security for the whole squad at team hotels – after strangers were given access to his room during the World Cup.

    “I have never seen anyone go up to the room of any player to sit with him in his room,” Salah said, speaking in Arabic. “This has not happened throughout my long stay in Europe.”

    “I do not want privileges, I do not mind being answered and the inability to complete my requests. I just want to be in my room, I do not want to let someone I do not know in my room at any time.”

    Salah also complained about flight arrangements for national team matches, which he said were hampering preparations.

    “My requests are normal,” he said.

    “We have a private jet, which is great, but it must be business class. I spoke with an African player in my team (Liverpool).

    “Everyone knows him – without mentioning his name – and assured me that all his trips are in this category.”

    “It is impossible to feel comfortable when we sit three players next to each other, especially on long journeys. These are difficult for us.”

    The Reds front-man rebuked the FA’s claims he wanted special treatment

    “I do not want to be in the business class and the rest of the players in the lower class,” he said. “We are all like each other. All I have demanded is for me and for the national team in general.”

    He finished by criticizing the Egyptian FA’s response.

    “The federation said everything in the conference and tried to make me out in a way that is hostile to Egypt,” said Salah.

    “If I had any mistake, it is possible to reply. Everyone knows how I’m playing and loving with the national team and I do not want anything (different).”

    The mounting tension comes ahead of Egypt’s African Cup of Nations qualifier against Niger on September 8.

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