Virgil van Dijk wants Mohamed Salah to remain at Liverpool but the club captain accepts that is not guaranteed. The Egyptian was reinstated to the squad after being dropped for the Champions League trip to Inter in response to his outburst after the 3-3 draw at Leeds last weekend.

Salah was recalled by Arne Slot for Saturday’s win over Brighton, coming off the bench in the 26th minute for the injured Joe Gomez, as the coach shuffled his team. The forward marked his return to action by taking the corner from which Hugo Ekitiké scored his second goal but will now depart to represent Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations, and could be away for more than a month. His absence will allow time to resolve his long-term future.

“First of all it’s not about me, it’s about the rest of the team,” Van Dijk said when asked if it was a test of his captaincy. “I speak to Mo, I speak to almost all the players, I hear and observe and that is the most important thing. If you feel that it could be a problem within the squad and it affects performances you have a different story but I think we showed this week we are absolutely united and we go forward as one.

“Mo goes to the Africa Cup of Nations. We hope he will be successful there and all hope he comes back and that is important for us for the rest of the season. But on the other side of it, we all know football and have no idea what will happen. I hope he stays as he is one of my leaders, a very important player which you saw with another assist. He is still important for the football club but there are more parties to this situation.”

Since Salah’s comments about being “thrown under the bus” and saying he has no relationship with Slot, Liverpool have won twice. Salah spoke to his head coach on Friday to clear the air and was subsequently reintegrated into matchday plans.

Van Dijk said of the affect of the week on the squad: “That is something behind the scenes that we have to deal with but the performances speak for themselves, that we are united and that is the most important thing.

“The mood in the dressing room has always been very good, obviously it can go down in terms of performances if you win or lose but the main thing I see is that we have the willingness to turn this around and the hunger and the energy to do so. Obviously it is what happens between the white lines over 95 minutes. We know the season is very long and we want to be consistent. We have to keep going and stay calm.”