Liverpool are set to be without the talents of Mo Salah and Wataru Endo very shortly, with both jetting off for the AFCON and Asian Cup respectively.
The pair are understood to be departing the club directly after the impending meeting with Newcastle United today.
It’s an unfortunate development, as Jurgen Klopp noted himself, given that the Japanese international appeared to be finding his feet at Anfield.
Where it leaves Liverpool
We’re fortunate to have Alexis Mac Allister soon able to slot back into the No.6 role following his return to training.
Replacing Mo Salah – and his goals in particular – however, will be a far more tricky prospect to contend with.
The obvious solution may be to push Harvey Elliott up into the forward line given his prior experience.
Though, we’re going to need to keep lethal finisher Diogo Jota fit throughout January (and early February, should both Salah and Endo reach the latter stages of their competitions) and at least some contributions from his fellow forwards to fill the void.
Get through January in one piece and things start to look rather interesting for Liverpool.
The games they could miss
AFCON runs from January 13 to the final on February 11, whilst the Asian Cup kicks off a day earlier on January 12 and runs until February 10.
Theoretically, and assuming both make it to their respective finals, it means the pair could miss the following batch of games:
January 7: Arsenal (FA Cup)
January 10: Fulham (Carabao Cup)
January 21: Bournemouth
January 24: Fulham (Carabao Cup)
January 31: Chelsea
February 4: Arsenal
February 10: Burnley
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