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Liverpool confirm when Mohamed Salah will leave for AFCON
Liverpool has officially confirmed that Mohamed Salah will be departing for Africa Cup of Nations duty after the weekend’s match against Newcastle United.
Egypt’s campaign in the tournament kicks off on January 14, and if they advance far into the competition, Salah could potentially miss seven games across various competitions, including key Premier League fixtures against Chelsea and Arsenal.
In a club statement, Liverpool announced, “Mohamed Salah will link up with Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations following Liverpool’s clash with Newcastle United.”
Additionally, Liverpool will lose midfielder Wataru Endo after the same game, as the Japan international is set to join up with the national team for Asia Cup duty.
During a press conference on Friday, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp emphasized the difficulty of devising a plan to cope without Salah, recognizing the significant impact the Egyptian forward has on the team.
“Each long-term plan I could have had depends massively on who is available so why should I think in October who should I use in January when Mo is away when I don’t know who is available?” Klopp said.
“We have solutions today and I hope we have that after Newcastle as well. It is not the first time, it is a really very average situation that you lose your goal scorer but we had it even worse in the past when both Sadio [Mane] and Mo left.
“But we came always through it and traditionally at least one of them went far in the tournament at least, which makes it even worse. We have to get through this. We know Africa Cup of Nations appears and Mo has to go and so we have to deal with it, that was always clear.
“And now we have with Wataru Endo his participation in the Asia Cup as well, so it’s like it is. We knew it and now we have to deal with it and we will.”
With the AFCON group stage scheduled to run until January 24, Mohamed Salah will miss several crucial fixtures for Liverpool. This includes the FA Cup clash with Arsenal, both legs of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Fulham, and a Premier League away match against Bournemouth.
The fixture against Chelsea on January 31 is on the cards, being the day after the AFCON round of 16 concludes. If Egypt progresses to the quarterfinal, Salah would be unavailable for the match against Arsenal at Anfield on February 4.
If Egypt goes all the way to the AFCON final scheduled for February 11, Salah would also miss the Premier League encounter against Burnley. The absence of Salah poses a significant challenge for Liverpool during this period, as he is a key player and top scorer for the team.