Jurgen Klopp discusses plan for 'average' Mohamed Salah situation

Jurgen Klopp has called Mohamed Salah's impending absence an 'average situation', but admitted his plans to replace the forward depend on availability.

Salah is set to be available for Liverpool's home clash against Newcastle on Monday night but will then travel to meet up with the Egypt squad for the Africa Cup of Nations in January and February.

The Reds' top scorer this season could miss as many as seven games in all competitions if Egypt were to make it to the final of the tournament in the Ivory Coast.

Addressing his star's imminent exit next month, Klopp insisted he did not make plans in advance to compensate for the loss of Salah, insisting that game-by-game availability will determine how Liverpool adapt.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Newcastle game, Klopp told reporters: "Each plan depends massively on who is available, so why should I think in October who can I use when Mo is away when I have no clue who is then available.

"We have solutions today and I hope we have that after the Newcastle game as well.

"It's not the first time. It's a really a very average situation when you lose your goalscorer, but we had it worse in the past when Sadio and Mo left and we came somehow through it – and one of them always went pretty far at least in the tournament which makes it even worse.

"So we have to get through this.

"We knew that the Africa Cup of Nations from time to time appears and that Mo has to go. That was always clear. And now we have Endo as a participant in the Asian Cup as well. It's like it is. We knew it and now we have to deal with it and we will."

Along with Salah, Wataru Endo is Liverpool's other squad member set for a period of absence next month.

The Japan captain will link up with his country for the Asian Cup, which runs between 12 January and 10 February.