Mohamed Salah will leave for AFCON – Liverpool confirms when

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Liverpool confirmed that Mohamed Salah will head to the Africa Cup of Nations after the weekend’s match against Newcastle United.

Egypt’s tournament starts on January 14, and if they go far, Salah could miss around seven games, including key matches against Chelsea and Arsenal in the Premier League.

In a club statement, it was announced, “Mohamed Salah will join Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations after Liverpool’s game against Newcastle United.”

Additionally, Liverpool will also be without midfielder Wataru Endo after the same game. As he is set to join Japan for the Asia Cup.

During a press conference, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp highlighted the challenge of planning without Salah. Saying, “It’s impossible to plan for January without knowing who’s available.

I don’t know who’ll be here in January when Mo is away, so I can’t make long-term plans in October.”

“We have solutions today and I hope we have that after Newcastle as well. It’s not the first time; it’s an average situation when you lose your top scorer. We’ve faced this before when both Sadio [Mane] and Mo left.

But we’ve always managed to come through, even when one of them went far in the tournament, which made it harder. We have to handle this situation. We knew about the Africa Cup of Nations, and now we have to deal with it.”

“With Wataru Endo’s participation in the Asia Cup, it’s how it is. We were aware of this and now we need to manage it as it comes.”

“Due to the AFCON group stage running until January 24, Salah will miss the FA Cup clash with Arsenal, the Carabao Cup semi-final against Fulham, and the Premier League match against Bournemouth.”

“Chelsea’s match on January 31 falls right after the AFCON round of 16. If Egypt reaches the quarter-final, it ends 24 hours before Arsenal’s visit to Anfield on February 4. If Egypt goes all the way to the final on February 11, Salah would also miss the game against Burnley.”

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