Egypt coach confirms plan to call up Liverpool's Mo Salah for Olympic squad in Tokyo

Egypt say they will name Liverpool forward Mo Salah in their Olympic football squad for Tokyo 2020.

Shawky Gharib coaches the U23 side and has confirmed that Salah will be called up as one of the three overage players in the squad.

Gharib, speaking to ON Sport, said of Salah: 'Out of the three senior players we'll call-up, Salah is the only one we're settled on so far because he's simply one of the top three players in the world.

"I haven't talked to Salah at all about him joining the U-23 squad for the Olympics, but in all honesty, his participation in the Olympics will need a little effort from him as well."

Salah's agent Ramy Abbas Issa responded by saying: "No decision has been made yet."

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been keen to stress in the past that this did not mean one of their star players definitely would be missing at a crucial preparation time for the Premier League side.

"No decision made yet. What I have to say to him I will say it to Mo [Salah], so that is all.

"Neither side has made a decision. I wish we could have whole squad together for pre-season but that is not possible for different reasons.

"Olympics is a wonderful thing but it would not be too cool. No decision made yet."

Liverpool are currently top of the Premier League where the season ends in May.

Preparations for the new season would usually start in July.

The men's Olympic football tournament runs from July 23 - August 8.

London 2012

Salah played a vital role at the 2012 Olympics in London where he scored in in all three of Egypt's group games. He netted the second goal in a 2-3 defeat to Brazil, scored the equaliser in the 1-1 draw against New Zealand, and bagged the opening goal in the 3-1 win over Belarus in their final group stage game.

Egypt were eliminated in the knockout stage losing 0-3 to Japan in the quarter-final.