KEY POINTS

  • Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita will leave for the Africa Cup of Nations next month
  • Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp reveals his stance on the subject
  • Klopp had earlier hinted at the player he is hoping to step up when the trio leaves

Liverpool has a chance to bring in a few signings to fill the void in the frontline, but Jurgen Klopp isn’t too convinced about the idea at the moment.

The Reds are on the verge of temporarily losing Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita in the latter part of January until some time in February.

With that in mind, Klopp has options and one of them is to loan a few forwards to fill the void temporarily.

However, the German coach pointed out that the said idea has already been written off.

“I have no plans to give anyone a loan in January,” Klopp said in a recent press conference. “I will not be the driving force – no-one came to me yet and asked to go.”

Another possible option is to actually sign players in winter. But the Liverpool manager still insisted that “signings” are also not on his planner.

“We obviously don’t talk about signings now,” the renowned coach stressed. “We knew about the Africa Cup of Nations, that’s true, that the players will be there and that at least two of them will go pretty far in the tournament. Can we prepare for something like that properly in terms of a one-for-one replacement for Sadio [Mane], Mo [Salah] and Naby [Keita]? That’s tricky in each situation.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has spoken out over coronavirus vaccines
Jurgen Klopp was left furious after Liverpool's 2-2 draw at Tottenham AFP / Lindsey Parnaby

“I am happy with the squad," he continued. "We have options to still play football, but we will see. There are so many games coming up now and we are still all together. The most intense period is when we are still together, but then we have a lot of games when the three players are not here.”

"That means we have to find line-ups for games, even when a lot of them are cup competitions. That is the situation and you can never be perfectly prepared for things like this. We know about it and we are confident we can find solutions.”

Salah, Mane and Keita will all depart Anfield to represent their respective countries possibly from January 9 to February 6 in the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.

Liverpool is probably looking at two or three important games without three of their best attackers in the squad.

During the said stretch, Klopp had earlier hinted that the club will be hoping for Divock Origi and the rest of his other attackers to step up.

Liverpool striker Divock Origi (right) celebrates his late winning goal against Wolves
Divock Origi now has scored a winner for Liverpool in two consecutive matches. AFP / JUSTIN TALLIS