Mohamed Salah is committed to Liverpool for at least two more seasons, but the next campaign could be interrupted by an absence of up to 10 games.
Salah will stay at Anfield until 2027 after signing a new contract worth up to £25 million per year last week.
His new deal is set to be followed by the official confirmation of a similar extension for Virgil van Dijk, in a major boost for the Reds moving forward.
But Liverpool will know they could be without Salah for an extended period in 2025/26 due to the scheduling of the Africa Cup of Nations.
The 2025 edition of the biennial tournament was set to take place this summer, but was later moved to the winter as it clashed with FIFA’s expanded 32-team Club World Cup.
And while the 2023 tournament was held in January and February, this time around it will kick off on December 21 with the final taking place on January 18.
That means if Salah and Egypt were to go all the way to the final, the 32-year-old could miss up to 10 fixtures for Liverpool based on this season’s calendar.
It would include all of the games in a busy festive schedule in the Premier League along with potential Carabao Cup knockouts, the FA Cup third round and an additional Champions League league phase tie.
Liverpool will, of course, be aware of this and it could impact any recruitment decisions when it comes to their forward line this summer.
For example, while Federico Chiesa has seen minimal game time throughout his first season at Anfield it is feasible that the Italian will be more relied upon next time out.
There could be consideration over whether Ben Doak stays or if permanent offers are encouraged for the 19-year-old after an outstanding loan spell at Middlesbrough.
Harvey Elliott is another existing option to cover on the right flank, but there is also the strong possibility that another winger is brought in during the upcoming transfer window.
Liverpool could block AFCON call-up
In June of last year, the Press Association reported that Premier League clubs would have the option of rejecting call-ups for either the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations or the 2026 World Cup due to FIFA regulations.
Those regulations on the status and transfer of players state: “It is not compulsory to release the same player for more than one ‘A’ representative team final competition per year.”
That is unlikely to be the case when it comes to Salah, of course, and the No. 11 should be expected to join his country for their group clashes with Zimbabwe (Dec 22), South Africa (Dec 26) and Angola (Dec 29) in Morocco.
He will, however, not join his national team for their post-season internationals having been granted a break to focus on recovery ahead of 2025/26 with Liverpool.
