Mamadou Sakho has said he’d like to play for Liverpool again, despite Jurgen Klopp clearly having no time for him.
The Frenchman didn’t make a single match-day squad during the first half of the season and was shipped out on loan to Crystal Palace, where he’s been phenomenal, in January.
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Sam Allardyce’s side look like they’ll avoid relegation, largely thanks to the centre-back’s influence, but there’s no indication Klopp will reintegrate him into our squad.
The defender was a fans’ favourite, but it’s mightily obvious that Klopp wants rid, so these comments are surprising.
Sakho told ESPN: “I still have three years on my Liverpool contract. If I have to wear the Liverpool shirt again, I’ll do so with pleasure. If I have to wear another shirt … we’ll see.”
“There was incomprehension, anger, because I had worked a lot. Then I said to myself, ‘C’est la vie!’
“When I saw my wife crying for three or four days, I said to myself, ‘Mamad, it’s unfair. You’re going to work. You get up at seven every morning, you work hard.’ Yes, I was the person who was there to reassure her, I didn’t have a choice.
“My mum said to me, ‘Mamad, do you realise that you haven’t spent as much time here since you were 13?’ That made me realise it’s true. With this job, you don’t have much time for the ‘real things.’
“I was late, that happens in every squad, I paid a fine. I don’t know what more I can do. It’s the boss, he made his decision. You have to respect it.”
Sakho is a very good defender when fully fit, but he has no future at Liverpool, rightly or wrongly. At the end of the day, we have to trust the boss’s judgement. The best we can hope for is that we offload for a hefty sum (around £30m) and use that money to buy a top notch replacement.
Virgil van Dijk would be the dream signing, although Southampton will request an outrageous sum for the Dutchman’s services.