The arrival of the AFCON in the middle of the campaign used to inspire serious anxiety from a Liverpool perspective.
Traditionally, losing the likes of Sadio Mane, Mo Salah and Naby Keita to the competition – leaving the club to fend for itself for a handful of domestic fixtures – was always going to inspire such a reaction.
Whilst the situation has improved somewhat, with the Egyptian King now the only star on the club’s books set to depart in early January, our top-scorer’s absence from the following fixtures is still cause for concern:
(A) Bournemouth
(H) Chelsea
(A) Arsenal
(H) Burnley
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That’s quite the array of games in which we’ll be without our goalscoring sensation and we certainly couldn’t begrudge fans for wincing at the prospect of facing two London clubs in the space of a week whilst notably handicapped.
Nonetheless, the club’s recruitment team has already prepared for this inevitable eventuality, ticking two boxes with the signing of RB Leipzig’s Dominik Szoboszlai.
Though primarily operating as an attacking midfielder, the Hungarian international has plenty of experience featuring on the right flank, making 32 appearances there (according to Transfermarkt) just in the last campaign alone for Marco Rose’s men.
The stats are most indicative of his suitability for the ‘Mo Salah’ role, should Jurgen Klopp opt to push him high and wide during our No.11’s absence, with 23 goal contributions registered in 46 games.
We might not get as devastating a contributor in front of goal as our Egyptian King, though it’s a sound fix that would certainly help Liverpool out at a difficult time in the campaign.