Mohamed Salah could miss as many as 10 Liverpool matches over the next month after departing for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Granted, this total is only met if the Reds progress in the FA Cup and require third and fourth round replays, while Egypt reach the continental final. But for the forthcoming weeks, starting with Sunday’s FA Cup trip to Arsenal, Liverpool will have to find a way to win without their Egyptian King.
And they will likely do so without making use of the transfer market, with Jurgen Klopphaving no interest in short-term replacements. That was his stance in 2017 when losing Sadio Mane to AFCON duty and again in 2022 when Naby Keita departed along with the two aforementioned forwards.
Admittedly, Luis Diaz was signed in January 2022 when Salah and Mane were still away at AFCON, but his arrival was always long-term. He was a replacement for the Senegalese on the left-wing for years to come, not for six weeks in winter as the forward helped his homeland become African champions.
Besides, the Colombian made just one appearance prior to Salah’s return, coming off the bench to make his debut against Cardiff City in the FA Cup fourth round. A first start followed in the Premier League against Leicester City, with the returning Egyptian utilised as a substitute, before Mane’s own return.
An intended target for the following summer, Liverpool moved early to sign Diaz from FC Porto in a deal worth up to £49m after Tottenham Hotspur forced their hand. Spurs had looked set to sign the forward, and ultimately negotiated the price down before the Reds hijacked the move.
His arrival was the start of a £179m attacking revamp over the next 12 months as Klopp looked to find replacements for the long-serving Mane and Roberto Firmino. Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo would make their own moves to Anfield in the subsequent summer and winter transfer windows to complete the club’s attacking revamp. For now.
One day the time will come where Liverpool will need to find a long-term successor for Salah. You suspect that search is currently quietly ongoing behind the scenes. But there is no desire for a short-term replacement with Klopp’s stance the same as it was back in 2017 and 2022. It isn’t going to change now.
And why should it? The Reds still have Diaz, Nunez, Gakpo, and Diogo Jota all available, while the likes of Harvey Elliott and Dominik Szoboszlai can bolster their attacking ranks too if needed.
But it is seemingly a different story at Tottenham as they face up to the prospect of being without captain Son Heung-min for up to seven matches due to his participation for South Korea in the Asian Cup.
While Liverpool handed the 25-year-old Diaz a five-and-a-half-year contract when bringing to Anfield two years ago, it has been widely reported that Spurs look set to complete a shock move for former Reds transfer target Timo Werner on a six-month loan deal from RB Leipzig.
Admittedly, Ange Postecoglou’s attacking options are not as fruitful as Klopp’s especially after selling Harry Kane to Bayern Munich in the summer. With Son at the Asian Cup, Richarlison, Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski, and Bryan Gil (who has spent the second half of the last seasons on loan back in Spain) are his only available senior attacking options, though James Maddison is expected back from injury later this month.
While the arrival of Werner will certainly bolster Spurs’ options in the absence of Son, his versatility, capable of playing both central and outwide, ensures he would be an attractive attacking option for Postecoglou for the rest of the season.
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