Liverpool and Egypt winger, Mohamed Salah, has been announced as the new captain for the national team, according to Egypt Today, taking over the role from Aston Villa’s Ahmed Elmohamady.

While, in any given context, appointing your top player as captain makes sense, the announcement comes with plenty of baggage, with the dust still barely settled on the latest fallout between Salah and the Egyptian Football Association (EFA).

Many will see new head coach Hossam El Badry’s announcement as a gesture to calm the strained relations between Salah and the EFA, following last week’s furore over the ‘invalid’ votes in the Best FIFA Awards, which saw the EFA’s votes stricken from the final tally. Egypt’s absence from the voting breakdown led Salah to believe that the EFA had deliberately snubbed him, which he reacted to by removing ‘Egypt’ from his Twitter bio. The move divided fans, with many deeming Salah reaction as petty, and others accusing the EFA of systematic mistreatment of the Nagrig-native. In the end, FIFA revealed that the votes had been discounted because they were signed in capitals, but the episode once again highlighted the rocky relationship between the two parties.

What kind of impact the change in captains could have on the squad is yet to be seen, and many have already predicted that taking the captain’s armband from the experienced Elmohamady could cause unrest in the dressing room.

Main image courtesy of Airtel Football.