Egyptian national team and Liverpool star Mohamed Salah has expressed disappointment towards the way things were handled amid an image rights' dispute with the Egyptian Football Association (EFA). "With great sorrow, the way of handling is very insulting. I had wished the handling of things would have been more elegant than this ...," the 25-year-old winger said in a tweet on Sunday afternoon. بكل أسف طريقة التعامل فيها إهانة كبيرة جدًا.. كنت أتمنى التعامل يكون أرقى من كدا... — Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) April 29, 2018
Although Salah did not directly mention the EFA, many believe the tweet was directed at the association given the ongoing war of words between his agent and the EFA. Salah's agent Ramy Abbas, the director of MS Commercial (Cayman), the entity that owns the player's image rights, has issued a series of statements accusing the EFA of committing violations by using Salah's image on the EgyptAir plane set to fly the national team to the upcoming World Cup in Russia and other advertisements. (Click here for more details) Officials from the EFA have told local media they have not broken any rules, and accused Salah's agent of "indecent communication." Egypt's Sports Minister Khaled Abd El-Aziz said on his Twitter account shortly after Salah's tweet: "We will be in contact with all the involved parties to solve the matter, especially as Egypt is preparing for the World Cup." "Salah is an example to follow for all Egyptian youth. He loves his country, a sincere and a perfect representative for Egypt in Europe," Abdel-Aziz added.Salah, the African and England player of the year, is Egypt football's undisputed hero and one of the country's all-time leading top scorers with an impressive haul of 33 goals in 57 appearances. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)