What does the Egypt captain mean?

Egyptian star Mohamed Salah has sparked controversy following his side Trabzonspor's 2-0 win over Alanyaspor on Sunday evening, in the eleventh round of the Turkish league.

Salah started the match and scored Trabzonspor's second goal in the 34th minute. That took the Egyptian's tally to 9 goals in the Turkish league, strengthening his lead at the top of the scorers' chart, while his total across all competitions reached 11 in the shirt of his new club.

Posting a photo on his social media accounts, Salah appeared making the victory sign and sticking out his tongue. The shot sparked all manner of interpretations among followers, some linking it to the recent developments inside the Egypt national team and the departure of Hossam Hassan from the technical leadership of the Pharaohs.

The timing told its own story. Salah's photo went up just as the Egyptian Football Association announced the end of Hossam Hassan's mission and that of his backroom staff, along with the appointment of Ali Maher as the new technical director. The decision landed on Saturday, after a spell of controversy over the mood inside the national team, the relationship between the former technical director and a number of players, chief among them the Pharaohs' captain, and some personal disputes in Hossam Hassan's life.

Nor has Salah issued any statement bidding farewell to Hossam Hassan since his departure, which only added to the controversy over the timing of the photo.

The roots of the crisis between Salah and Hossam Hassan go back to the Egypt national team's last camp in September. The technical director decided to substitute his captain after 60 minutes of the clash with Angola in the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, a game that ended goalless.

Hassan justified the call on technical grounds at the time. Salah later left the camp and sat out the clash with South Sudan, which raised wide questions about the relationship between the two, even though the technical staff insisted the absence came by agreement with the player because the match was played on an artificial grass surface.

Speculation about the future of that relationship grew over recent weeks, especially after Salah also missed the friendly against South Africa, with questions swirling over whether he would join the November camp. The football association's management stepped in to try to contain the situation and bring player and staff closer, but it all ended with Hossam Hassan's departure.

The photo also dragged the visit of Hany Abo Rida back into focus. The Egyptian Football Association president travelled to Turkey days ago and met Mohamed Salah in an attempt to defuse the dispute and bridge the gap with Hossam Hassan before the November camp.