Liverpool could reportedly be without Mohamed Salah for up to four months next season due to the knock-on effect of the coronavirus shutdown.
Uncertainty reigns regarding the futures of a number of sporting events after the 2020 calendar was decimated by the COVID-19 outbreak, with the Tokyo Olympics becoming the biggest casualty yet earlier this week.
The Games will be rescheduled for 2021, but IOC president Thomas Bach has refused to rule out the possibility of them taking place in the spring rather than the summer, which could in turn affect the 2020-21 football season.
Egypt's Under-23 coach Shawky Gharib has already expressed his desire to have Salah as one of his over-age players for the Olympic football tournament.
The winger, along with the likes of Sadio Mane, Naby Keita and Joel Matip, is already due to miss a chunk of the 2020-21 campaign due to the Africa Cup of Nations, which are scheduled to take place in January and February next year.
Should the Olympics then follow in spring then the Daily Mail reports that Salah could miss up to four months of Premier League action, although there is no guarantee that next season will follow conventional timings with the end date of the current campaign also still up in the air.
Salah has scored 91 goals in 144 games for Liverpool since joining the club from Roma.
Barney Corkhill
