If recent words from Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp are anything to go by, then no African player, no matter how good that player is, will come into Liverpool team anytime soon.

This much was gathered from the Liverpool boss after the 2021 Africa cup of nations in Cameroon was pushed forward to January-February due to weather conditions.

The Confederation of African football, CAF announced last week that the AFCON in Cameroon will no longer hold in the summer as initially planned because it will be rainy season around June/July in the country.

That singular announcement by CAF has thrown many European clubs, especially the top ones in serious problem for next season because they are definitely going to lose the services of their top players for the period of the tournament.

This is a problem many European clubs thought they have overcome when the Africa Cup of Nations was moved to the summer from the traditional calendar of January/February but the problem seems to have resurfaced again.

While many clubs in the premier league will be dealt a blow by the new date of the 2021 AFCON, one team that will face the music more seems to be Liverpool where they are sure to lose three key players to the tournament in January.

Liverpool’s fantastic front three is made up of two African sons in Mohammed Salah of Egypt and Sadio Mane of Senegal.

And if Liverpool wants to replicate the sort of season they are having at the moment next season, they can’t afford to have both players unavailable for a long period of time such as the case will be when they leave for the AFCON.

Another player they will be missing during the AFCON is Guinean captain Nabil Keita, who is a midfield general for both club and country.

This definitely has frustrated the Liverpool manager to make it clear that he and the club will now seriously think it through before bringing in an African player going forward.

Klopp said “the African cup of nations going back to January and February, for us is a catastrophe losing three players”.

“The other thing it does which is true is that it does not help African players. Offcourse we will not sell Nabil, Mo and Mane because they have a tournament in February but if you have to make a decision of bringing in a player, it is a massive one. You know for four weeks or there about you don’t have him. As a club you have to think about things like this, so it does not help the African players for sure.”

The English Premier League is set to lose about 35 players to the African Cup of Nations next year.

Source: Daily Mail/Mirror