Jurgen Klopp insists he has not dared make any long-term plans for Mohamed Salah‘s imminent absence on the basis that injuries could quickly scupper them.
The forward will take part in Liverpool’s meeting with Newcastle on New Year’s Day before jetting off to represent Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Participation in the tournament in the Ivory Coast could mean the Reds are without their top goalscorer for as many as eight games.
But Klopp is wary of giving too much thought to who might come in for his star man given the frequency with which he has lost options to injury so far this season.
He said: “Each long-term plan I could have had depends massively on who is available, so why should I think in October who I can use when Mo is away when I have no clue who is available?
“We would have solutions today, I hope we have that after the Newcastle game as well.
“It is not the first time, it is a really at least very average situation that you lose your goalscorer but we had it even worse in the past when Sadio [Mane] and Mo left and we came somehow through it.
“Traditionally, one of them went pretty far in the tournament, which made it worse.
“We have to get through this. We knew the Africa Cup of Nations from time to time appears and Mo has to go and we have Endo as a participant of the Asian Cup as well, so it is like it is.
“We knew it and now we have to deal with it and we will.”
AFCON runs from January 13 until February 11, and Salah is guaranteed to miss four matches due to his participation in the group stages.
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