The implications of fixture congestion has become a perennial bugbear of Liverpool Jurgen Klopp since he first arrived at the club in 2015, and in that time he has become of the harshest critics of auxiliary competitions in England and the volume of two-legged ties in cup competitions.
With the African Cup of Nations now planning to host the tournament at the beginning of the year in 2021, as opposed to the summer which was the case last year, Klopp has voiced his disapproval.
If the tournaments does indeed move back in the calendar, Liverpool will be forced to go without the services of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita for what is usually a busy period just after Christmas. Speaking ahead of his side's clash with Manchester United this weekend, Klopp addressed the issue:
These decisions are made without asking the players, without asking the managers, without asking anyone. It is just a decision. It is FIFA who should sort all of that as head of all the different associations.
The Africa Cup of Nations going back to January is, for us, a catastrophe. On top of that we have absolutely no power.So if we did say, ‘We won't let him go,' the player is suspended.
How is that possible that the company who pays the player cannot decide that the player has to stay or not?
I feel massively for Harry Kane. I now hear he may not be in the Euros. For the first time some English people in the FA may think, ‘Oh, too many games maybe.' Something has to happen for them to really start thinking about it.
Now they send all these guys in winter again, in the middle of a season, to a tournament in different circumstances, and coming back from the Africa Cup of Nations is not easy to take.
The tournament was originally expected to take place in the summer of 2021, but that period would have clashed with the expanded Club World Cup tournament. Moreover, the harsh Cameroonian climate is believed to be playing a significant role in the decision.
