Liverpool will be without Mohammed Salah in January as the Egyptian competes in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Liverpool might have kept hold of Mohamed Salah this summer despite big-money interest from Saudi Arabia, but they will still have to make do without his services this season.
Salah is set to captain Egypt at this winter’s Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, which will take place between January 13 and February 11. Should the Pharaohs reach the final, as they did in the 2021 edition of the tournament (staged in 2022), the 31-year-old could miss at least five matches, with four coming in the Premier League.
Throw in potential progression in the FA Cup and League Cup and such a total rises to eight games, with the possibility of replays in the former even ruling Salah out of a potential 10 outings. But regardless of domestic cup commitments, Liverpool face the possibility of the forward being absent for their blockbuster Premier League double-header at home Chelsea and away at Arsenal on January 31 and February 3 respectively.
Of course, this isn’t the first time the Reds have been without the services of their African contingent under Jurgen Klopp’s watch. Sadio Mane would miss seven matches during the 2016/17 season, and be absent from the starting XI for an eighth, when Senegal lost in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Mane would miss seven matches and Salah six, being utilised only as a substitute in a seventh when returning, during the 2021/22 season because of their international commitments as Senegal beat Egypt on penalties in the final. Naby Keita would also miss five matches as Guinea suffered a round-of-16 exit.
In the past, Klopp has been adamant he would not sign replacements for his departing African forwards in particular, insisting Liverpool had enough in their ranks to make do for a month in their temporary absence.
In 2021/22 this was true, at least, as the Reds won six of their seven matches without Salah and Mane in their starting XI, reaching the League Cup final and progressing in the FA Cup in their absence on their way to a domestic cup double. And while they would ultimately end up signing Luis Diaz that winter, the Colombian’s arrival from FC Porto on January 30 was an opportunistic swoop to snap up a long-term replacement for Mane, who would leave for Bayern Munich the following summer.
However, it was a different story without Mane in 2017. Second in the table at the time of his departure at the start of the month, Liverpool struggled in his absence as they exited both the League Cup and FA Cup and dropped to fourth in the table, 10 points behind leaders Chelsea, when the Senegalese made his return.
