Egypt have named Mo Salah in their preliminary squad for this summer's Olympics.

But whether or not the Liverpool forward actually suits up for the Pharaohs in Tokyo remains to be seen.

While Olympic football is an under-23 tournament, each team can carry three players who are over that age limit and manager Shawky Gharib, who is also Egypt's U-23 manager, hopes Salah is one of them.

"I have made it known publicly that I would like to have him with us during our Olympic campaign and he did not refuse, which means he also wants to play with us," Gharib told French outlet L'Equipe. "Salah's participation in the Olympics is supported by the state, represented by the Ministry of Sports and the Egyptian Football Federation, in our joint effort to bring home an Olympic football medal for the first time."

The issue is whether or not Liverpool will sanction Salah's release. If Egypt were to progress in the tournament, the 28-year-old Salah would miss virtually all of the Reds' preseason and could miss the team's first Premier League match of the new season. The 2021-22 campaign is set to kick off on the weekend of August 14.

Because Salah's status is up in the air, Gharib named 10 over-age players to his initial roster.

Salah has been capped 69 times by Egypt, scoring 43 goals.

Currently, is tied with Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane for the most goals in the Premier League this season with 17.