Liverpool head coach Arne Slot will hold talks with Mo Salah on Friday, "the outcome of which will determine" if he will feature against Brighton on Saturday.
Slot said earlier in the week he had "no idea" if Salah had played his final game for Liverpool, but appeared to soften that stance ahead of the weekend's game after revealing he and the club had been in talks with Salah and his representatives throughout the week.
Salah has not started any of Liverpool's last four games and after he was an unused substitute against Leeds last weekend, claimed in a bombshell interview he had been "thrown under the bus" by the club and said his relationship with Slot had become non-existent.
The club subsequently decided to drop him from the travelling squad which won 1-0 at Inter Milan on Tuesday, the same day Salah posted a photograph on Instagram of himself training alone at the training ground gym.
When asked on Friday whether Salah had played his final game for the club, Slot said: "I will have a conversation with Mo this morning. The outcome of that conversation determines how it will look tomorrow.
"What I need is a conversation with him and the next time I speak about Mo should be with him and not in here. There's not much more to say about it. I will speak to him today and the outcome of that conversation determines how things will look tomorrow.
"You can try it in multiple ways, the next time I speak should be with him. We've spoken a lot in the last week, after the Sunderland game, there have been a lot of conversations between his representatives and ours, between him and me.
"And today I will speak with him again."
Slot was quizzed on his personal desire about Salah's future at Anfield and the head coach also clarified the decision-making process behind omitting Salah from Tuesday's win in Milan, which was made jointly between himself and the club.
He said: "[Who decides] if he's in the squad, yes or no? We've decided as a club, I was part of that decision not to take Mo to Inter Milan.
"I'm always in conversation [with the Liverpool board], but when it comes to the decision making of the squad or the line-up that is always left to me.
"That's not to say I don't talk to Richard [Hughes]. I talk to Richard about many things. But to play a player is entirely up to me."
Asked specifically if he wanted Salah to stay, Slot replied: "I have no reasons not to want him to stay. This club has won a lot of games with him."
SSN reporter Vinny O'Connor at the AXA training centre:
"'I have no reasons not wanting him to stay here,' was as far as Arne Slot would go regarding his current position on the Mo Salah situation.
"And there's evidence to back that up in the actions Slot is planning to take. Why else would he be meeting with Salah today after various conversations between the player's representatives, the club and Slot himself.
"Surely, if the manager was ready to cast Salah aside, there would be no need for a further conversation.
"Where Slot did stop short was by refusing to disclose whether or not he needed an apology from Salah.
"If Salah is not considered for selection for the second consecutive game, it could mean that they are giving him extra thinking time.
"However, it will raise the question as to exactly what came out of today's meeting and increase speculation that Salah could have played his last game for the club.
"The underlying theme of the news conference appeared to be a manager trying to take the heat out of a drama he could have done without. That heat will die down further with Salah off to AFCON once the Brighton game is out of the way.
"Salah was at the training ground as normal today and whatever happens this weekend, Liverpool will then be without him until January at the very least.
"With Slot saying he doesn't want him to go, what move will Salah make to ensure that doesn't become a permanent arrangement?"
Paul Merson has defended Mohamed Salah following his claims that Liverpool have "thrown him under the bus", suggesting the club's trophy cabinet would be a lot emptier without the Egyptian.
"I'm on Mo Salah's side. I think he's gotten too much stick.
"Maybe he shouldn't have done what he did, but he's a human being. He's a winner. He's a legend. The figures he's put up on the wing - goals and assists - is off the charts. We'll never see that again in my opinion.
"All he's done is say he wants to play football. He's got the hump because he's not playing. How could you be slaughtered for that?
"There are other players in the team that could've been dropped and he's probably thinking 'we're not very good and I'm not playing'. I just think it's wrong.
"Liverpool wouldn't have won anything if it wasn't for Mo Salah. You take away his goals and assists and I don't think there's any trophies in that cabinet for a while."
