Home Football Jurgen Klopp admits will be ‘HAPPY’ if Mohamed Salah’s Egypt exit the AFCON early

Jurgen Klopp admits will be ‘HAPPY’ if Mohamed Salah’s Egypt exit the AFCON early

Football — 01/06/2024

Since many genuine statements are made in jest, it wasn’t totally tongue-in-cheek when Jurgen Klopp said that Mohamed Salah would be lying if he wished him luck at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Image

“I said if I wish you good luck, it would be a lie,” said Klopp, referring to Salah and Wataru Endo, who will represent Japan in the Asia Cup.

“From a personal point of view, I would be happy if they go out in the group stage, but that’s probably not possible. They can go on and win it. So it was ‘good luck and come back healthy’. We have to deal with it and we will deal with it. I am pretty positive that we will find a way.”

Jurgen Klopp happy for Mohamed Salah and Wataru Endo's absences to be minimum | The Independent

Some players’ absence creates a vacuum. Salah creates a chasm the size of Grand Canyon. In his 27 appearances across all competitions this season, the Egyptian has racked up nine assists and eighteen goals, making his overall contribution as fruitful as ever. With this, the timing of the Africa Cup of Nations is about as welcome at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light as a Geordie interior decorator.

Salah is extremely dependable due to his availability in addition to his outstanding performance. After his return from the 2022 Afcon, which was held in 2022 because to the Covid epidemic, he has only missed one of Liverpool’s 73 Premier League games.

Thankfully, Klopp has choices because Liverpool’s month without Salah begins at Arsenal in the FA Cup third round on Saturday.

The incredible message Jürgen Klopp gave to Endo and Salah on their absence in Liverpool

Although Harvey Elliott and Diogo Jota are the most likely candidates to replace Salah as Liverpool’s right-sided attacker, teenage sensation Kaide Gordon will also be considered for the cup after making an impressive showing in the Europa League following a lengthy injury layoff.

There’s also the option to move Luis Diaz to the left throughout the course of the upcoming month. Darwin Nunez might therefore operate as a winger in the event that Klopp starts Cody Gakpo as a center striker.

The majority of attention from the outside will be directed toward Nunez, the Uruguay international who is still looking for the cutting edge that would allow him to go from being a highly promising striker to a player of elite caliber.

In 28 games this season, he has eight goals and eight assists, a respectable total tainted by the several simple opportunities he has wasted, particularly in the last month