Guinea head coach Paul Put says he is still awaiting word from Naby Keita over his fitness for the knockout stages of the African Cup of Nations.

The Liverpool midfielder returned to the UK to have a thigh injury assessed by club doctors after sitting out the final group match against Burundi in the 2-0 win on Sunday.

Put says that both the Reds and Keita will make a final decision on the injury before deciding whether to return to Egypt:

“I hope that he will be back and join the team. He wrote to me that he has to do one more examination at Liverpool and then they will make a decision, so I hope this decision will be positive.”

“But also we have to know if the player is mentally good in the head because if you’re not good and you’re afraid to get injured that makes no player comfortable. So I will see now the reaction of the Liverpool side and also what is the feeling of Naby himself.”

Guinea will play Algeria in the last 16 on Sunday evening, and their chances of progressing will be dealt a blow if their captain is not passed fit.

Keita was initially expected to be out for two months after picking up an adductor tear in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona.

However, he recovered sooner than expected but there is a feeling that Guinea may have rushed his return to fitness, leading to him needing further treatment.