Mohamed Salah has failed to live up to his club performances with Liverpool and has achieved “nothing” with the Egypt national team, according to the country’s three-time African Cup of Nations winning manager Hassan Shehata.
Salah is Egypt’s second all-time leading scorer with 47 goals in 85 appearances and led the country to the 2018 World Cup finals, their first appearance at the tournament since 1990.
But the forward’s international career has been met with some lows, notably their defeat to Senegal on penalties in the African Cup of Nations final earlier this year. There was then further heartbreak as Salah missed a penalty during Egypt’s World Cup play-off defeat, again to Senegal.
And Salah, whose form for Liverpool this season led to a number of individual awards, has now been told to do more for the Pharaohs by their former manager Shehata, who led Egypt to three consecutive continental titles and left his post shortly before Salah’s debut for the national team.
“Technically, and I’m sorry to say this, but Mohamed Salah [has done] nothing with the national team,” said Shehata, according to Goal. “He should have done much better than that. He must provide more when he plays for his country.”
Shehata also said Salah would benefit if he was played in a different system and that the 30-year-old has struggled because his international team-mates are not at the same level as his Liverpool team-mates at club level.
“He should have said this to the officials here, although he is not the one who chooses the players, but he should have said that the players here are not like the players in England,” he added. “Therefore, the coaches have to find a way to open the space for Salah. We must find players to help him appear properly in the pitch.”
