Egypt's new team manager has addressed the relationship between the nation's coach and superstar Mohamed Salah after he criticised the forward following his decision to leave the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations early.
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The Egyptian Football Association caused a stir this week when they hired legendary footballer Hossam Hassan as their new head coach after Rui Vitoria was sacked on Sunday.
The decision to appoint the former Al Ahly and Zamalek forward took many by surprise, perhaps especially as he was strongly critical of Salah during the AFCON group stage.
Hassan, Egypt's all-time leading goalscorer, took issue with the 31-year-old winger's call to head back to Liverpool to recover from a hamstring issue, saying at the time that he should remain in England even if the Pharaohs did progress to the competition's latter stages.
His brother Ibrahim, who will now work as the nation's team manager, has played down suggestions of a rift between Hossam and Salah.
"We represent Egypt now, all foreign-based players are of great value to the team, and Mohamed Salah in particular is of great value to us. Why do you speak of a dispute between him and Hossam Hassan?" he said, according to KingFut.
"We haven't seen Salah so far, but we will meet up with him. We requested to sign Mohamed Salah for Zamalek when he played for Arab Contractors.
"All players will receive appropriate appreciation, and every player will get his rights, whether a foreign-based player or a domestic one.
"Hossam and I don't like discrimination between players. The fans want a strong and fierce player.
"When you have a player like Mohamed Salah, you should be happy, not the opposite as some say. We will communicate with all players in the upcoming period, whether Salah, Trezeguet, or [Ahmed] Hegazi. We have no problem with Salah.
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"There are many great players in Egypt, like [Omar] Marmoush, Trezeguet, Hussein El-Shahat, and Ramadan Sobhi. We must purify intentions."
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