Salah sustained the injury just before halftime in Egypt's second group-stage match against Ghana on 18 January and limped off the pitch. He initially returned to England for a two-match recovery timeline, but medical staff later revised it to "several weeks on the sidelines."

With Egypt's AFCON exit, the pressure on Salah's recovery has eased slightly. However, Klopp ruled him out of the Chelsea encounter on Wednesday and Arsenal clash on 4 February.

When asked for an update in his pre-Chelsea press conference on Tuesday, Klopp suggested that his top goalscorer would not be in contention for that clash.

“He’s not ready for this game, not ready for the next game [against Arsenal]… and then not,” he said.

“So, he’s injured. I’m not sure if there was a misunderstanding in the beginning. He’s injured and a muscle injury takes time.

“It could have been much worse, but he’s not available at the moment. He’s just doing his rehab,” the German manager added.

“You cannot rush. It’s just not possible. You just do what you can do, and while you are doing that, from the outside we have to wait until they are ready,” Klopp concluded.

Based on the latest assessment, Salah's earliest return could be for the Burnley game on 10 February. However, if he misses that, the trip to Brentford on 17 February is a more likely comeback date.

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