With the African Cup of Nations running from December 21st to January 18th, Liverpool are set to be without star forward Mohamed Salah for an extended stretch that includes six Premier League games against
Tottenham, Wolves, Leeds, Fulham, Arsenal, and Burnley.
It’s already a far more significant run of matches than is typical and includes the busy holiday period, when the tournament typically kicks off a little later in January and the impacted portion of the club fixture list tends to include more cup dates and fewer league games.
Worse, Egypt have now signalled that they want Salah in early for a pre-tournament warm-up against Nigeria on December 14th. As a FIFA sanctioned match, Egypt do have the right to call on Salah for it, and it would result in the winger missing an additional league game.
Liverpool are scheduled to play Brighton on the 13th of the month, and Liverpool are loathe to lose Salah for a seventh league game—though if Egypt make an unlikely exit after the group stages he could return sooner—while Egypt want Salah involved. Talks are ongoing.
According to national team technical director Ibrahim Hassan, Egypt “are still in contact with Liverpool and Manchester City at the moment regarding this matter,” with the Pharos also seeking to bring Omar Marmoush in for the small matter of the pre-AFCoN friendly.
