Arne Slot has confirmed that Mohamed Salah will link up with Egypt for AFCON after Liverpool has taken on Brighton in the Premier League, meaning the first match that he will miss is the visit to Spurs towards the end of December.
Egyptian national team director Ibrahim Hassan had wanted Salah to link up with his international teammates earlier than anticipated this winter ahead of AFCON. The tournament in Morocco. It is set to run from December 21 to January 18, though Egypt may not go all the way to the final.
Hassan revealed last month that discussions were ongoing with Liverpool and Manchester City to determine the status of Salah and Omar Marmoush for a friendly against Nigeria on December 14. "We are still in contact with Liverpool and Manchester City at the moment regarding this matter," he confirmed to WinWin.
However, Slot says Salah will head off on December 15, making him available for the Brighton game. Both Liverpool and Manchester City have Premier League fixtures scheduled for the same weekend, with Pep Guardiola's men taking on Crystal Palace.
It always seemed unlikely that Salah and Marmoush would want to miss out on those games. Salah remains an important figure for Arne Slot even though he was left out on Sunday, while Marmoush has missed much of the season to date through injury.
Salah is likely to miss home Premier League games versus Wolves and Leeds games and visits to Tottenham, Fulham and Arsenal.
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah.
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. (Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
That game at the Emirates could still be important in the title race, though the Reds are currently trailing Arsenal by nine points.
If Egypt goes deep into the tournament, Salah might also end up missing games with Burnley and Marseille. He could have missed a potential Carabao Cup semi-final before Liverpool was knocked out by Crystal Palace.
He would be unlikely to feature in the FA Cup third round, but that falls early in 2026 as well. Available for the Brighton game, he will miss up to eight games in total.
Jeremie Frimpong was signed in part because of his ability to play on the right wing. He didn't leave much in the way of an impression against Galatasaray earlier this season when he stepped in for Salah, though.
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Frimpong has also been sidelined with an injury for much of the season but could return to training next week. Federico Chiesa can also play in that position but he has been almost exclusively used off the bench.
Against West Ham, Florian Wirtz showed some positive signs that he is used to the demands of English soccer, and Alexander Isak, who scored his first league goal there, will be more up to speed too.
Salah leaving for a period is not news to Liverpool and it will have an idea of how to combat it. Even though he hasn't been in the best form so far this season, he will still be a significant miss.