Liverpool have immediate Mo Salah issue with star to miss games if he signs new contract

Liverpool have a problem to contend with if Mohamed Salah signs a new contract, as they hope he will. The Reds are currently negotiating with Salah’s representatives as they look to tie their top goalscorer down to a new deal at Anfield.

In his eighth season on Merseyside, the captain of Egypt has a ridiculous 16 goals and 13 assists in 23 appearances. If he scores another 15 goals this season, he will become Liverpool’s third-highest goalscorer of all time.

But off the pitch, the Liverpool hierarchy are eagerly trying to keep him for the remainder of his peak. Salah has publicly made it clear he’d love to continue scoring in front of the Kop.

And if a deal is eventually agreed, as expected, Liverpool will need to think ahead to next season and a problem that awaits them. The 2025 African Cup of Nations will take place midway through the season again next year.

Due to the Club World Cup becoming a 32-team summer tournament, with the first edition of the new format to be played in June 2025, AFCON will be held from December 21st to January 18th, 2026.

During the same period this season, Liverpool will contest eight matches – six in the Premier League, one in the Carabao Cup and one in the FA Cup – while there is a Champions League game just days afterwards too.

The previous AFCON in 2023 saw Salah miss five Liverpool matches during the tournament while an injury sustained then saw him struggle for form and fitness on his return to England.

Given the form Salah is in this season, Arne Slot and co. will be wary that they will need to pre-plan for his departure and the fact he will be more fatigued than some of his club team-mate.

As it stands it is unclear quite how Liverpool’s forward line will look in Slot’s second season. But it is entirely possible one or more of Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota may have left due to form, contract or injury problems.

All three’s current deals expire in the summer of 2026, leaving those above Slot with plenty to think about at the same they try to tie down Salah, captain Virgil van Dijk and the influential Trent Alexander-Arnold.

For now, Salah and the attacking trio of Nunez, Diaz and Jota are focused on helping Liverpool fight for silverware in Slot’s maiden campaign. Diaz has nine goals and three assists, Jota five and two and Nunez has contributed four and three.

But it is Salah who is the bonafide superstar. Slot will be eager to ensure his team-mates continue to chip in with goals and assists to ease the reliance on the Egyptian king – especially so that he knows he has players to count on in his absence in the future.