It seemed as though Liverpool were going to have a quiet transfer window at the start of the summer as reports of the club not having money to spend and targets going elsewhere led to a sense that the Reds wouldn’t be up to much this summer.

However, the past 48 hours have shown that you should never underestimate the Anfield outfit and Michael Edwards as they secured the signing of Thiago from Barcelona, while reports of Diogo Jota coming in for a fee of £45m began to run rampant.

With the reliable Tim Spiers stating that this deal is done, it seems as though it is a matter of time before we see Jota announced as a Liverpool player, and that has seemingly had a knock-on effect as the club are reportedly no longer interested in Ismaila Sarr.

Sarr was reportedly available for a smaller fee than Jota has cost, but in the end, it seems as though the Reds have opted for the Wolves man over the Senegal international, and there looks to be one huge upside to signing Jota over Sarr.

Liverpool signing a backup winger was always going to be an interesting move, as the current partnership of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah both seem to be undroppable, with the pair both winning Golden Boot awards in 2018/19.

However, despite their indispensability within Jurgen Klopp’s plans, some things are out of his hands, including the African Cup of Nations.

The AFCON has been a thorn in the side of Premier League clubs for years at this point, with its winter schedule leading to a lot of top stars missing crucial parts of the season.

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The current pandemic has led to the competition being moved back to 2022, but it’s still planned to be played in January and February, meaning that players will be absent, and with Sarr, Mane and Salah all likely to be playing at the tournament, Klopp could have been without three of his most important attackers in 16 months’ time.

Jota coming in mitigates that risk as he will be there to hold down the fort while Liverpool’s star men are out of action, and if he stops the Reds from dropping points during that period, he will prove to be worth the extra money they’re paying to get him instead of Sarr.

Of course, a lot of things will have been considered, Liverpool’s analytics team are amongst the best in the country, and it won’t have been as straightforward, but this factor isn’t one that should be ignored.