Arsenal and Liverpool set to lose their best players for six weeks next season with AFCON 2021 taking place in winter
LIVERPOOL face losing Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita for SIX weeks next season after the Africa Cup of Nations was moved back to the winter.
The potentially massive blow to Jurgen Klopp’s side was confirmed by African football chiefs.
And the decision and its repercussions could have a huge influence on the direction of next term’s title race, with Manchester City only set to be affected by the loss of Algeria's Riyad Mahrez who captained his nation to victory last year.
The 24-team tournament had been due to be played in Cameroon in June and July of 2021.
But the summer months are the middle of the rainy season in the West African state, with average temperatures of 27 degrees, 170mm of rain and 85 per cent humidity.
Fears over the safety of players in such condition led Confederation of African Football chiefs to revert to the previous policy of playing earlier in the year, with the tournament now set to take place between January 9 and February 6.
The concerns were exacerbated by the issue of players being otherwise expected to play both the Africa Cup of Nations and the inaugural and newly-expanded Fifa Club World Cup in the same summer.
The solution, though, will have a massive knock-on effect for clubs around the world.
And the biggest potential impact in England could be on Klopp’s champions-elect, whose hopes of retaining the crown they seem certain to claim by May could be significantly damaged.
Salah is the King of Egyptian football and it is infeasible that he could miss the African equivalent of the European Championships.
Likewise, Mane is Senegal’s talisman and was crowned African Footballer of the Year for 2019, while Keita is Guinea’s stand-out player.
Liverpool were caught up in a row with Cameroon over defender Joel Matip in 2015, with the centre-half missing two matches before Fifa resolved the dispute and confirmed he had retired from international football during his spell with Schalke.
It is unlikely that Matip, who has not played for his country since, will change his position but the fact that Cameroon are hosting the event might make him reconsider.
Other clubs set to be hit include Arsenal, who face losing both Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ivory Coast’s Nicolas Pepe and Crystal Palace, who could lose four players immediately after Christmas including Wilfried Zaha, Jordan Ayew and Cheikhou Kouyate.
The group stage of qualification only began in October and will not be completed until November, meaning many club bosses may only know for certain that they are likely to lose players less than two months before they depart.
Previous January tournaments have caused unrest and anger from Prem managers, who have complained at the disruption caused.
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Fifa rules say national teams can demand players for up to 14 days before the start of the tournament, although they can come to agreements with individual clubs over release dates.
But the status of the tournament means most African stars will want to play if they are selected and they feel a debt of obligation to their nation and home fans.
And if players refuse to play for the national team, Fifa has the power to ban them from turning out for their club sides during the spell when they would be away at the tournament.
