Jurgen Klopp is set to unleash double Mohamed Salah boost as Liverpool takes on Man United tomorrow

Mohamed Salah not traveling to the World Cup midseason will be advantageous to Liverpool on two fronts. Jürgen Klopp will be aware of how crucial it might be given the small margin for error.

A lengthy preseason that included training camps in both Austria and Evian allowed Jürgen Klopp the time to solidify fresh strategies ahead of the next season was a luxury Liverpool rarely enjoyed last summer.

Things are moving a little quicker this year. Recently in time to travel to Asia for preseason matches with Manchester United and Crystal Palace, players like Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nez have just joined the team. Last Monday, the remaining members of the team who weren’t on international duty were brought back to Kirkby.

Pre-season, however, is more of an intense four-month period for the players who are not traveling to the World Cup than it is the start of a brand-new season for them. This phase begins with the trip to Fulham on the first weekend in August.

From that time until the World Cup, there are 16 Premier League games, all six Champions League group matches, and Liverpool’s first-round Carabao Cup match. The goal is to advance in the cup by winning as many games as possible, and to finish the league season with as near to a perfect record as you can.

Liverpool have a slight advantage in that sense, though it will be challenging to strike a balance, as Salah and several other prominent players won’t be attending the World Cup because their countries didn’t qualify.

For players that go all the way, it will take a lot out of them — especially if, like Salah found in last year’s AFCON, they lose the final in heartbreaking fashion. Anyone that exits early, though, will benefit from a similar rest period as Salah will this time around.

Salah’s season is divided into two parts, with two preseasons to get him ready for each: one now and another throughout the Qatar Cup, which runs through December. In contrast, pre-season is Virgil van Dijk’s preparation for another tremendously demanding year, with no World Cup break for the Netherlands and little breathing room in the schedule.

The exact effect on the second half of the season is unknown given that the World Cup is taking place in England during the winter for the first time.

Since he joined Liverpool from AS Roma in 2017, there haven’t been many opportunities for him to have a full summer to get ready for the season. This year, with the World Cup starting earlier than usual, is no exception. Salah, though, has the advantage of being able to envision the upcoming season as having two separate halves from the outset.

The calendar falling as it does should ease any worries that he could falter like he did in the second half of last season due to tiredness. Salah is prepared to take off in August, and he’ll do the same thing when the Premier League season resumes later on.