Liverpool will almost certainly have to plan for life after Mo Salah next season despite the winger recently signing a two-year contract extension.
After months of speculation surrounding his future, the 32-year-old finally put pen to paper on a new deal last week which’ll keep him at Anfield until at least 2027, triggering euphoria among the Reds’ fanbase.
However, he’ll be 35 by the end of his latest agreement, and even before that point, Arne Slot will need to formulate plans for an alternative solution on the right flank.
Salah set to miss several matches next season due to AFCON
As per the Daily Express, Salah will miss a chunk of Liverpool’s 2025/26 season due to his near-certain participation in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), for which Egypt have once again qualified.
The tournament’s scheduling in the middle of the general European club calendar is familiar, but whereas the last two editions took place at the beginning of the calendar year, the next finals in Morocco begin on 21 December and continue until 18 January.
That timespan encompasses the traditionally hectic festive period in English football, and if the Pharaohs were to get to the final (which is plausible) and the Reds play the same number of matches within the corresponding dates for 2024/25, he could miss as many as 10 games at a crucial juncture in the campaign when travel time and rest periods are incorporated.
It could give Liverpool a chance to look towards life after Salah
Liverpool fans are accustomed to losing players for AFCON due to its mid-season scheduling – it’s happened twice with Salah during his time at Anfield, and we were also without Sadio Mane during the early 2022 edition, when his Senegal side triumphed over Egypt in the final.
Of course, that could yet be a moot point if (heaven forbid) our number 11 happens to be injured at the time of the tournament (he actually suffered a body blow during the last edition in January 2024), but thankfully he’s one of the more robust players in Slot’s squad and rarely succumbs to lengthy absences.
If, as expected, the winger participates in the finals over the Christmas/New Year period, it’d require the Reds’ head coach to plan without him for a few matches, which in turn could hand the boss an opportunity to look ahead towards options for the right flank after the Egyptian ends his LFC career.
Liverpool have survived without Salah during AFCON before – indeed, despite being without him and Mane for a few weeks during the 2021/22 season, we still won two trophies in that campaign and were within two matches of claiming an unprecedented quadruple.
When the tournament rolls around in December, let’s hope that whoever’s tasked with filling the shoes of our number 11 will compensate for the absence of the club’s third-highest scorer of all time.
