This may not bode well for team spirit ahead of the tournament
Mohamed Salah is reportedly embroiled in a major dispute with his own football association over image rights used by the Egyptian FA ahead of this summer's World Cup in Russia.
The Liverpool star, who has scored 43 goals in his debut season at Anfield, is said to be insulted over the fact that his image has been used on a national team plane without his consent.
His agent, Ramy Abbas, has already tweeted about the dispute, claiming that his client's image has been repeatedly used without consent on "billboards and ads" throughout the country.
https://twitter.com/RamyCol/status/990225369537097729
His national team's talisman and a massive celebrity in his own country, Salah has a sponsorship deal with telecommunications giant Vodafone, a direct rival of the national team sponsor WE.
In a message sent out from his Twitter account yesterday in Arabic, Salah stated that he was "insulted" by the act, and admitted that he hoped the FA would be "classier than this".
https://twitter.com/MoSalah/status/990592896062631937
The dispute comes at a poor time for Egypt with the country set to compete at the World Cup for the first time in 28 years.
Fans already appear to be backing the man whose penalty sent them there, with the hashtag #Support_Mohamed_Salah already gaining traction.
https://twitter.com/elnour_omar/status/990646093288493056
https://twitter.com/Borador2/status/990710134396596229
https://twitter.com/mohfathi295/status/990632694911569921
https://twitter.com/Ehabhamedjafer/status/990660230391451648
https://twitter.com/geo_ezz/status/990625774800695297
