Mohamed Salah might miss 10 Liverpool fixtures after newest FIFA choice
Mohamed Salah has committed his long-term future to Liverpool, but Arne Slot will still need to find a temporary replacement for the Premier League’s standout player
Despite Mohamed Salah penning a fresh two-year deal with Liverpool, keeping him at Anfield until 2027, Arne Slot will inevitably have to scout for the Egyptian’s successor at some point next season.
The 32-year-old has been the shining star of the Premier League for most of this season, topping both the Golden Boot and Playmaker leaderboards with an impressive tally of 27 goals and 18 assists from 32 outings in England’s top tier.
Last time out, the striker chalked up his 45th goal contribution of the Premier League season, setting up Luis Diaz to break the deadlock against West Ham United at home, setting a new benchmark for a 38-game campaign.
While Erling Haaland’s record-breaking haul of 36 goals in a Premier League season may be a bridge too far for Salah with just six games left, he’s only two assists shy of matching Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne’s joint-record for a single season.
Slot has already voiced his confidence that the forward will sustain such high standards into next season and beyond after committing his future to Liverpool, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Salah has been a constant fixture in the Premier League this year, starting all 32 of their matches and only once failing to clock more than 80 minutes.
He also started all but one of Liverpool’s 10 Champions League fixtures, as well as the League Cup final and both legs of the corresponding semi-final.
As a result, players like Federico Chiesa and Harvey Elliott have found themselves sidelined, getting minimal playtime in Slot’s squad due to Salah’s undeniable importance and influence.
However, the forward won’t be able to deliver such performances next season for reasons beyond his control. This leaves the Liverpool head coach scrambling for a replacement for the 32-year-old ahead of the January transfer window.
This is because the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is scheduled smack in the middle of next season. It was moved from its original summer 2025 slot due to the inaugural edition of FIFA’s contentious expanded Club World Cup set to take place in the United States in June and July.
The AFCON schedule has been further muddled by the addition of two extra match days in the Champions League at the end of January.
Historically, when AFCON was scheduled mid-season, it took place in January and February. The latest edition, however, will kick off on December 21 in Morocco and run until January 18.
In the past, this meant African players missed only a few Premier League matches as most of January was filled with domestic cup action. But the new scheduling means players will miss the entire festive period of Premier League games.
Salah is poised to lead Egypt in the upcoming season’s tournament, with the Pharaohs already clued up on their group-stage rivals. They’ve been drawn into Group B and will kick off their campaign against Zimbabwe on December 22, followed by a clash with South Africa on Boxing Day.
Their final group match will be against Angola on December 29.
The round-of-16 matches are slated for January 3-6, with the quarter-finals hot on their heels on January 9-10. The semi-finals are set for January 14, leading up to the third-place play-off on January 17, and the grand finale in Rabat on January 18.
The 2025/26 Premier League season is scheduled to kick off on Saturday, August 16, with the last round of matches pencilled in for Sunday, May 24, 2026. It’s already been confirmed that there won’t be any Christmas Eve fixtures.
However, the rest of the fixture schedule remains under wraps, so it’s still unclear how many matches participating players will miss until the Premier League fixture release day on Wednesday, June 18.
But if we use this season’s schedule as a guide, AFCON would have clashed with eight Liverpool matches – six of which were Premier League games.
