Mohamed Salah's muscle injury is "more serious than first thought" and could keep the Liverpool forward out of action for nearly a month, according to his agent.
On Sunday, Liverpool announced that the 31-year-old would be returning from the Ivory Coast, where he was representing Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations, to undergo treatment with the aim of returning to play for his nation if they progressed to the knockout stages of the competition.
That optimistic plan, at least according to Ramy Abbas Issa, now looks to have suffered a significant setback.
Posting to his personal account on X (formerly Twitter), the agent wrote: "Mohamed's injury is more serious than first thought and he will be out for 21-28 days, and not two games.
"His best chance at participating in the current Africa Cup of Nations is by undergoing intensive rehabilitation in the UK and rejoining the team as soon as he is fit."