According to reports in Egypt and UK, Liverpool forward’s Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane could face a 9,000-mile trip to Ghana.
The brilliant pair are scheduled to appear at the CAF awards the day before the Merseyside derby which is on January 5.
Salah, fresh of the back of his African Player of the Year award , is the favourite to be crowned CAF Player of the Year on January 4, with their FA Cup third round game against Everton the day after.
Their appearance at the event will surely harm their chances of playing a significant part in the 230th Merseyside derby , with Mane in particular wanting to put his recent miss against Everton behind him.
If the pair go to the event, claims from Africa says they will fly back to Merseyside from Accra in a private jet less than 24 hours before the game.
The Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) will on Monday at a press press conference announce nominees for AITEO-CAF 2017 African Footballer of the Year Award will now be held at the Movenpic hotel in Accra.
President of Egypt FA Hany Abou Rida is quoted as saying: “Mohamed Salah in a leading position until now regarding the voting for CAF player of the year and he will attend the CAF awards Gala in Ghana 4th of January,”Via mirror.co.uk.
The loss of the speedy wingers will be damaging for Klopp’s men as they have scored 27 goals between them this season.
Premier League top goal-scorer Salah, in particular, has caught the eye and his jinking effort against Bournemouth took his tally for 20 goals this season in all competitions, a truly sensational return .
It will be interesting to see if Klopp works his charm to keep his magic pair in Merseyside.
Eleven (11) players have been shortlisted after an initial 30-man list released by the continent’s football governing body.
CAF President Mr. Ahmad is expected to announce the final three nominees who will compete for the most outstanding African Player for the year 2017.
Top African stars including Mohamed Salah ( Egypt) Sadio Mane (Senegal), reigning African best Pierre-Emerick Aubameyung (Gabon) and Victor Moses ( Nigeria) made the final eleven-man shortlist.
Other shortlisted players includes Betrand Troare (Burkina Faso),Denis Oyango (Uganda), Karim El Ahmadi (Morocco) Keita Balde (Senegal), Naby Keita (Guinea), Vincent Abubakar (Cameroon) and Yacine Brahimi (Algeria).
Some Ex-African football stars and top football officials will also attend the event.
