Arne Slot has scored something of an unlikely hat-trick this international break where Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are concerned

Liverpool trio (from left to right) Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez

Two international breaks into his Liverpool tenure and Arne Slot has done little to suggest he is part of the domestic managerial brigade who are uncomfortable sitting through the best part of a fortnight away from their key players.

Slot has cut a relaxed figure whenever the prospect of international fixtures has been brought up at his AXA Training Centre press conferences and has appeared, on the surface at least, as someone who is more than accepting of the fact that regular national games are part and parcel of elite-level football.

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Quite how his mood will change if one of his key men return with an injury only he will know but there might have privately been some frustration at aired at seeing Harvey Elliott go down with a foot fracture while on England Under-21 duty last month.

Generally, though, Liverpool's head coach looks to be one of the few who is not too anxious at leaving his stars in the care of their national FAs.

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On the contrary, in fact, Slot recognised recently that the break can be a good source of minutes for players in his squad who haven't been able to rack up too many at Anfield.

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Darwin Nunez, for example, was someone who Slot wanted to go on international duty with Uruguay because of the fitness that needed building further and a behind-closed-doors game had been in the pipeline as a way of getting the No.9 sharper, prior to the news last week that the striker had been cleared to take part for his country following an appeal of his five-game suspension for his part in crowd trouble at the Copa America.

"I would have preferred him to go because I think it is always good for a player to go to his national team, they like to see their team-mates again," Slot said.

"He would have probably played two games, at least one but I think both because he is a starter over there and like you guys are telling me constantly, he hasn’t started that much over here.

We're working on that (behind-closed-doors fixture)."

But while Slot will be pleased to see Nunez involved for Uruguay in their 1-0 defeat to Peru over the weekend, the rule is surely not a blanket one for his squad.

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For example, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are players whose minutes have so far tipped past the 600-mark this season in the Premier League, with both also involved 180 minutes of Champions League duty too, against AC Milan and Bologna.

Nunez, in contrast, has played just 186 minutes across the 10 games in all competitions, hence why Slot was more than happy to see his centre-forward fly out to South America.

The news that both Salah and Van Dijk are now set to return to Merseyside to continue their preparations for Sunday's visit from Chelsea will be viewed as a huge boost for Slot and his staff as they step up their plans from Monday at Liverpool's £50m Kirkby training base.

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Salah was given the opportunity to sit out Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at Mauritania on Tuesday due to concerns over playing on their artificial pitch and a statement released by the Pharoahs confirmed the Liverpool star had been allowed to miss the game.

The statement read: “The technical staff of Egypt’s senior football team led by manager Hossam Hassan held a meeting with Mohamed Salah, the captain of the Pharaohs.

The knock-on effects suffered by the No.11's hamstring issue at the Africa Cup of Nations in January will still be fresh in the minds of those who are still at the club.

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That injury led to Salah missing the best part of two months and undoubtedly hampered his performances for the final months of Jurgen Klopp's time at the club.

The decision from Salah to miss the visit to Mauritania, where it was suggested the hosts would engage in “hard and violent tackles” by boss Hossam Hassan, is just the latest piece of evidence that the Reds star is taking a more pragmatic approach to juggling international and club commitments as he approaches his mid-30s.

The first notable act of that strategy came when he shunned the opportunity to turn out for Egypt at this summer's Olympic Games in Paris in favour of a full and uninterrupted pre-season schedule under a new boss in Slot.

It was a decision that, 10 games into the campaign, looks to have paid off handsomely, with Salah having already contributed 11 goal involvements with six goals and five assists.

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Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah of Liverpool(Image: Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

A full week of Liverpool training gives Salah the best possible chance of being the star of the show on Sunday afternoon when Chelsea visit for what is the weekend's major Premier League fixture and the decision to sidestep a potentially dangerous trip to an aggressive Mauritania on an artificial pitch makes absolute sense from the Reds' perspective.

So too will Van Dijk's return to club duty after he was sent off in Netherlands' 1-1 draw with Hungary this week.

With all the matches we have coming, I fully understand that the club thinks it is a good moment to get some rest.”

So while Nunez is waved off with Slot's full blessing, the impending return of Van Dijk and Salah makes it something of a welcome hat-trick for the Liverpool head coach ahead of a hugely important few weeks that begins with Chelsea and also sees the current league leaders visit Arsenal and host Brighton alongside Champions League meetings at RB Leipzig and at home Bayer Leverkusen.

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Whisper it quietly, but Slot might even enjoy these international breaks.
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